At a time when most other institutions of higher education in the country excluded ex-slaves from admission, the University of Kansas conferred degrees upon sixty African Americans by 1910. However, while the university did allow ex-slaves to matriculate, these students still experienced a degree of exclusion and encountered barriers of racial segregation on campus. This article outlines the educational experiences of African American students at the university from the 1870s to the 1920s and includes a discussion on the racial and social tensions in Lawrence, Kansas, and at the university during the years under study, a view of campus life for African Americans, and profiles of several students. The goal of this paper is to illuminate some of these experiences and provide an overall sense of what the university community offered (or did not offer) these courageous students. Archival documents and personal collections, which include newspapers, yearbooks, personal letters, and photographs, are used to identify significant themes.