During the height of the modern women’s movement, SU Physics Instructor and 1971 SU Graduate Roena Wilford made history by becoming the first female ever elected Student Government Association president at Southern University.
She was encouraged to run by the president of the Beta Psi chapter of her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated to run against the opposing candidate who represented the “political machine.”
“I can remember her pacing back and forth in the Shrine Room. She said, Wilford, you should run for president,” she remembered. “I tried to ignore her until she shouted, Wilford, you WILL run for president!”
Wilford along with members of her sorority, fellow classmates and faculty members developed a campaign strategy. She still has the bookmark that bares her slogan, “One Aim, One Goal, Once Body.”
“During the rally the biggest problem was the fact that I was woman. They didn’t care whether or not I could do the job,” she said.
To the tune of nine votes, enough people looked beyond that fact and elected her SGA President.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
Even more interesting, her ex-boyfriend, who ran on the other ticket, was elected vice-president.
“He thought that he was going to escort me but I told him that he would escort Miss SU and Mr. AKA would escort me,” she said candidly.
During her administration, she introduced the student loan program where students were allowed to borrow $50 with the co-signature of a faculty member. She also introduced the cabinet administration that created positions such as business director and program director. Her administration also was the first to give Miss Southern a $200 stipend.
As a physics/mathematics education major, Wilford was involved in numerous campus organizations.
She was a member of Kappa Delta Education Honors Society, Alpha Kappa Interdisciplinary Honors Society, and the Association of Women Students. She was the president of the Beta Psi Chapter and the 2nd National Vice President of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
As deep as the mighty Mississippi River, Wilford’s roots run through Southern University and the Baton Rouge community.
Throughout her life she has been a champion for education. Her parents, Louis and Molly Wilford graduated from Southern in 1935 and were both education majors.
Her father, who worked in the university laundry to pay his way through college was forced to set aside his dreams of becoming a teacher to take a job in the labor force at the Ethyl (now known as Ablemarle) Corporation. He worked there for 25 years to support his court.”
In 1956, Wilford, along with four of her siblings were selected to be the first African-American students to integrate Baton Rouge public schools.
By the 5th grade, she had attended four different schools. Afraid that she would get caught up in the system, her parents moved her to Southern University Laboratory School to join her older siblings.
“I was told by my high school guidance counselor that I would be a physics teacher,” Wilford said. “It was really a natural choice considering I came from a family of educators.”
She received a full academic scholarship to Ithaca College in New York but she declined the offer.
“The climate during this time wasn’t quite favorable for African-Americans,” Wilford said. “I didn’t want to be subjected to that at a place were I wouldn’t be accepted.”
Besides, she had to deal with discrimination all her life.
Despite scholarship offers to other schools, Wilford said she decided to stay on safer grounds by moving a few yards to “the yard.”
“I had the safe haven and support at Southern that I couldn’t get anywhere else,” she said.
After graduating summa cum laude in 1971 and later earning a master’s of arts degree in Curriculum Instruction and EDS Specialist at Louisiana State University, she began teaching in the East Baton Rouge Parish Public School System.
For the past 20 years she has been an instructor of physics Southern.
“Sometimes, I feel like a weird duck in the department because most of my colleagues are theorists and I’m into educating young minds,” Wilford said.
Wilford’s family legacy at Southern extends beyond her parents. Her maternal aunt, Mildred Alexander, her brothers Winn and Carl, a retired Air Force Sergeant attended SU.
Her nephew, Leslie, a lieutenant colonel in the air force and her great niece Tyquincia Wilford, a graduating senior and immediate past Association of Women Students president, attended the university as well.
Although Wilford did not have any biological children, her goddaughters Juanita Johnson Waldron and Shundale Hills graduated and earned master’s degrees from Southern.
Wilford is also involved in host of church and civic organizations.
She plays an active part in the lives of girls through the Audubon Girls Scout Council where she serves as troop organizer and cadette and senior girl scout leader at Mount Caramel Baptist Church, team member of Service Unit 619 and member of the Gold Award Task Force. She also teaches Sunday school and serves as a Youth Council trustee at Mount Carmel.
Wilford is also affiliated with the Nu Gamma Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated where she serves on the Founder’s Day and mentoring committee.
She is the founding president of the Louisiana Equal Opportunity Association (LEOA) and the East Baton Rouge Parish Magnet School Advisory Council.
Through her efforts to better the lives of children in her community, she has earned many accolades including the state of Kentucky’s 1981 Woman of the Year Award.
trayvean Scott
Jags basketball-guard
Junior / Baton Rouge
“I attended everything last year-the game, every party, the Greek Show and comedy show-everything that involved homecoming week.”
