When Elaine Johnson Coates first stepped on her college campus in 1955, she was “frightened and somewhat apprehensive.”

At 17, she was one of the first seven Black students to dorm at the University of Maryland, College Park, a year after the Supreme Court declared school segregation unconstitutional. She expected to face challenges her white classmates wouldn’t, but that didn’t make the next four years any easier.

She was isolated from her peers and verbally attacked and threatened. Professors graded her more harshly than white students.

But she also knew how hard she’d worked to get there. She came to College Park with “a plan and purpose.” In 1959, she became the first African American woman to earn an undergraduate degree from the university.

Sixty years later, she earned a standing ovation from the graduating class of 2019 as she walked on stage to receive an inaugural Alumni Association award named after her. As she accepted, she admired the diversity of students in front of her.

“Your trials and triumphs may seem personal, but the path you forge and the doors you open can impact individuals you may never meet,” Johnson Coates said. “Your journey matters. Proud and fearless Terrapins, know that there will be generations waiting to stand on the strong shoulders of your future achievements.”

It’s the kind of impact that will live on long after Johnson Coates’ death on Feb. 14, friends and colleagues said. The trailblazing alumna, who went on to become a teacher and social worker, was 88.

In addition to the alumni award, Johnson Coates is the namesake of a residence hall and a merit-based scholarship. She was an active member of the UMD community, regularly attending university fundraisers and celebrations, and received an honorary doctorate in 2020.

She was also an unofficial mentor to scores of administrators, students and faculty who were inspired by her perseverance and courage. Kimberly Griffin, the first Black dean of the education college, was among them.

“There was an immediate connection between the two of us, and I think I’ve always felt this deep appreciation for having the opportunity to meet someone whose shoulders I stand on,” said Griffin, who first met Johnson Coates in 2022 at a scholarship reception.

Johnson Coates always greeted Griffin with a hug and questions about her baby, she said. Griffin described her as warm and gracious, someone who didn’t necessarily expect the recognition she received and just wanted to lift others up.

“She reminds me that we can sustain and be resilient through incredibly hard things, and that just showing up and being excellent sometimes is our own version of resistance,” Griffin said.

Johnson Coates was born Sept. 15, 1937, to Alma and Robert Johnson, and grew up in West Baltimore. She attended segregated city public schools and was an honor student at Frederick Douglass High School, according to her family obituary.

She dreamed of becoming a teacher but was crushed when her high school counselor declined to write her a letter of recommendation, telling her she was “aiming too high” for her dark complexion and should instead become a secretary.

In tears, Johnson Coates called her mother, who said: “Recommend yourself.”

Johnson Coates applied and received a full scholarship to UMD, becoming the first person in her family to attend college. After earning her bachelor’s degree in education, she looked for teaching jobs but couldn’t get one in a predominantly white school because she was Black.

There were no open positions at predominantly Black institutions, so Johnson Coates instead became a social worker and started a job with the city, according to an obituary published by the university. She earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, in 1980, and became a licensed clinical social worker.

Over the course of her career, she also returned to teach at Frederick Douglass High School and provided social services to trauma patients at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Even after retiring in 2006, she continued volunteering at the hospital, according to the family obituary.

In her personal life, Johnson Coates married her childhood sweetheart, James Zachariah Coates Jr., in 1960, though they separated 17 years later. They had two children, Jason and Tamara, and Johnson Coates raised them as a single mother after the divorce. She also held a strong faith and sang in church choirs.

“Her unwavering dedication to family and unrelenting love established a paradigm for a strong foundation,” said her son-in-law, Kevin Walker.

Both of her children went on to graduate from the University of Maryland.

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