Nathaniel A. Nkanta

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This photograph of Nathaniel A. Nkanta appeared in Greensboro College's 1970 yearbook, The Echo. Nathaniel A. Nkanta became Greensboro College's first black graduate in May of 1971. Mr. Nkanta was originally from Nigeria. In late 1968, Nkanta was in danger of being deported back to Nigeria because he had lost his restricted immigration permit when he became so sick that he had to drop out of the college he was attending at the time. Nkanta transferred to Greensboro College in the Fall of 1969. The political situation in Nigeria was highly volatile given the ongoing civil war there. Nkanta's father had already been beheaded, and Nkanta almost certainly would have been killed had he been deported back to Nigeria. Through the intervention of a Catholic priest and Dr. Hull (chair of the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Greensboro College.), Mr. Nkanta managed to avoid being deported and ended up finishing his undergraduate degree at Greensboro College.