UTA’s first Black graduate remembered as distinguished physician, trailblazing student
.JPG "Dr. Maxwell Scarlett speaks at UT Arlington’s College of Sciences graduation ceremony May 15, 2005. Scarlett died July 31, 2021 at 76 years old. He was the university’s first Black graduate.")
Dr. Maxwell Scarlett, a distinguished Fort Worth physician and the first Black student to graduate from UT Arlington, died July 31 in Fort Worth at 76, the university announced Monday.
Scarlett earned his bacherlor’s in biology from Arlington State College in 1966, before earning a medical degree from Howard University. He opened his medical practice specializing in emergency medicine in Fort Worth in 1977 and continued seeing patients even after retiring from his practice in 2014, according to the university. Scarlett served as president and director of Lekar Emergency Medical Associates in Killeen from 1994-2009.
He initially enrolled at the University of North Texas (then North Texas State), where he integrated the school’s biology honor society, became the first Black student to grade papers and teach in the school’s science department and live in the dorms. He transferred to UTA his senior year after taking summer courses there and liking his professors. Former Mayor Tom Vandergriff also encouraged Scarlett to transfer, according to Scarlett’s obituary.
Scarlett transferred three years after UTA initially integrated. Looking around at his graduation ceremony, he wondered if he was the only Black graduate in his class, but did not think about it again for decades. He found out he was the first Black graduate in the late 1990s.
“Needless to say, I’m proud of it. I’m happy for the university. I’m happy for African-Americans, as well as for the society itself,” Scarlett said in a 2004 Star-Telegram article.
Scarlett grew up in Fort Worth’s Stop Six neighborhood, around a family of educators — his mother and both of her grandparents were teachers, and his maternal great grandfather was a chemistry and physics professor at Prairie View A&M University in the 1890s. Scarlett is survived by his wife, Vivian, and his six children: Maxwell III, Cherie, Chris, Monique, Merrell and Deanna.
Scarlett served on the UTA President’s Advisory Board and College of Science Advisory Board, and was a founding member of the university’s African American Alumni Chapter. He received UTA’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2005, as well as the Multicultural Services Trailblazer Award and the Outstanding African American Alumni Award.
“He said he never set out to lead the way and break racial barriers, but he did exactly that,” said College of Science Dean Morteza Khaledi. “His hard work and the example he set helped to open the door for so many others who had been denied and excluded before. We are extremely proud that Dr. Scarlett was a College of Science alumnus, and we are forever grateful for everything he has done to make UTA a better and more equitable institution.”
His funeral service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday at First Baptist Church of Arlington, 301 S. Center St.
This story was originally published August 9, 2021 at 12:28 PM.
