Fifty years ago this June, Rose Butler graduated from Rhode Island College (then Rhode Island Normal School ) and with 127 classmates left the confines of the Promenade Street campus in downtown Providence for a career in teaching.
On commencement day, 1919, she stood out in the auditorium as the only Negro receiving a degree. Today she stands out in Durham, N.C., and in many other cities throughout the country as a symbol of dignity and achievement.