Over 60 years ago after a student was denied enrollment into a medical program at a private Georgia university because of the color of his skin, the doctor is finally getting a apology.

In 1959, Marion Hood applied to be a medical student at Emory University in Atlanta. He received a letter from the school rejecting his application  because he was Black, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

“Dear Mr. Hood,” the notice wrote. “Acknowledgment is made of your letter of July 30, enclosing your application for admission to our School of Medicine. I am sorry I must write you that we are not authorized to consider for admission a member of the Negro race.” “I regret that we cannot help you,” the letter that hung on Hood’s wall since concluded. Along with a denial letter, Hood was given back his $5 application fee.

Now 62 years later, the school is apologizing for the rejection. In a statement President Gregory L. Fenves mentioned the error stating that Hood was rejected for “no other reason that the fact that he was Black” and that the letter “vividly shows the systematic injustice of that time and the legacy that Emory is still reckoning with.”

“Throughout American history and Emory history, Dr. Hood and so many other talented students were denied access to achieve their dreams to realize their potential” he added.

Vikas P. Sukhatme, sent a letter to Hood, which read, “On behalf of Emory University School of Medicine, I apologize for the letter you received in 1959 in which you were denied consideration for admission, due to your race. We are deeply sorry this happened and regret that it took Emory more than 60 years to offer you our sincere apologies.”

Hood went to Clark College before studying medicine at Loyola University in Chicago and became a gynecologist and obstetrician. The 83-year-old said he never let the rejection notice get to him. The doctor graduated in 1966, opened up a practice in Atlanta less than ten years later, delivering over 7,000 babies before retiring in 2008. Emory desegregated three years after Hood was denied and in 1963 admitted their first Black medical student, Hamilton E. Holmes.

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