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Maxwell Scarlett, the first Black graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington and a Fort Worth physician who specialized in emergency medicine, died last month.
He was 76 years old.
Dr. Scarlett said he did not set out to break barriers when he enrolled at UTA, then called Arlington State College, in September 1965, according to an obituary published by the university.
In fact, he transferred to Arlington as a senior three years after the student body was integrated and other Black students had enrolled.
But he was the first to graduate, earning a bachelor’s degree in biology in spring 1966. He went on to earn a medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine.
“He said he never set out to lead the way and break racial barriers, but he did exactly that,” College of Science Dean Morteza Khaledi said in the obituary. “His hard work and the example he set helped to open the door for so many others who had been denied and excluded before.”
Dr. Scarlett was born in Fort Worth, grew up in the Stop Six neighborhood in a family of educators and graduated from Dunbar High School. Growing up, Dr. Scarlett knew he would attend college.
After graduating from Howard University, he returned to Fort Worth and started his own medical practice in 1977. From 1994 to 2009, he was president and director of Lekar Emergency Medical Associates in Killeen. He continued seeing emergency medicine patients even after retiring from his Fort Worth practice in 2014.
Dr. Scarlett did not realize he was UTA’s first Black graduate until 1997, when he was interviewed by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for a story on the 35th anniversary of the university’s desegregation, according to the obituary. He only knew he was among the first, so he asked the university to do some research.
“It was just sort of an accident of fate or providence,” Dr. Scarlett said in 2004. “I guess I was just in the right place at the right time, so to speak. I’m proud of it personally, I’m proud for African Americans, I’m proud for UTA. I’m proud for our society in general.”