African Americans were long essential to the operation of Georgia Southern, before 1965 serving mainly as carpenters, dairymen, custodians, and cooks, many living in campus cottages and building long careers there. Mose Bass began work at the college in 1929 as a dairyman and retired after 38 years of service as a custodian for Sanford and Cone Halls. President Guy Wells, who served from 1926 to 1934, challenged traditions of racial inequality, promoted the social awareness associated with Y clubs, and addressed racial injustice in the South while maintaining ties with influential people who disagreed with him. With help from Benjamin Hubert, president of the black college in Savannah, Georgia, now Savannah State University, Wells brought Dr. George Washington Carver to campus in 1933 to speak before the student body and the Bulloch County community, drawing a crowd of 1,500. President Marvin Pittman, serving from 1934 to 1941 and again from 1943 to 1947, continued this progressive direction. In January 1965, John Bradley, a teacher at Statesboro's all-black William James High School, became the first African American student at Georgia Southern when he enrolled to complete requirements for a master's level teaching certificate. President Zach Henderson, in office from 1948 to 1968, personally helped Bradley register and oversaw the college's integration. In the fall of 1965, six black undergraduates attended the college: Clavelia Love Brinson, Arlene Marie Daughtry, Catherine Davis, Ulysee Mosley, Shirley Anne Woodall, and Jessie Zeigler. These earliest black students formed close, supportive relationships that helped ensure their success and encourage others. African American enrollment increased gradually through the 1970s and 1980s, then rose sharply in the 1990s to above 25 percent. In 1972, Dr. Charles Bonds became the first African American faculty member, and President Dale Lick, who served from 1978 to 1986, encouraged the first significant recruitment of black faculty, including Mical Whitaker and Dr. Wil Grant.