When Ernest Boyd graduated from Auburn University in 1976 he was the only African-American in his graduating class in the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences.
The youngest of seven children, Boyd was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. and went to high school in North Alabama. He attended Auburn on an ROTC scholarship.
Boyd is extremely proud of his undergraduate success.
“I still have my diploma displayed, and every time I go into my office I look at it and smile,” Boyd said.
Boyd always knew he wanted to be in forestry. He had his entire life planned out after graduation.
“I was just doing what came naturally,” Boyd said. “Just going to school and trying to get a job.”
Boyd absolutely loves his university, but he said it wasn’t always “music and roses” to become accepted.
“A lot of my teachers didn’t know how to act at first with me being the only black student in the class,” Boyd said. “But they learned pretty quickly I wasn’t going anywhere. Mom taught us never to give up or to give in, and I know if she was here today she would be smiling and so proud.”
Race relations have improved since Boyd attended Auburn. However, he still remembers how difficult it was to be the only person in a major representing an entire race.
“I had this friend in school that wanted to study with me one day,” Boyd said. “So he invited me to his house, but he said, ‘You’ve got to come through the backdoor. My landlord, he doesn’t like black people,’ but I said, ‘No, I’m a front door man.’”
Boyd said this same friend invited him to meet his father who was the grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
“He wanted me to meet his parents to prove to them they were wrong,” Boyd said. “All of the things he had been taught his whole life about black people … he found out they weren’t true.”
Boyd is a firm believer in having conversations with people of different backgrounds and races. He said this is the only way to learn that people aren’t so different.
“If I cut myself, we are all going to bleed the same,” Boyd said.
After graduation, Boyd was in high demand with more than 10 job offers. He chose to work for Hammermill Paper Company. After only seven months on the job, Boyd was commissioned into the army as a second lieutenant.
“I was really disappointed because I loved that job,” Boyd said. “I had planned to serve four years and then return to civilian life, but I spent my entire adult life with a professional career in the U.S. Army.”
After retiring from the military, Boyd became an elementary and intermediate school teacher, which he loved. Boyd uses “War Eagle” as his mantra because to him it is a means of breaking down barriers and getting to know others.
“It can be an ice breaker,” Boyd said. “If you take the time to break the ice and listen, you don’t know how much you have in common with men.”
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