In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, the first woman receives an honorary degree, a senior is arrested during civil rights activism, and more.

June 15, 1978—Elizabeth “Lisa” Najeeb Halaby ’73 marries King Hussein and becomes Queen of Jordan, taking the name Noor Al-Hussein.

June 16, 1931—Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Willa Cather, best known today for having written O Pioneers!, becomes the first woman to receive an honorary degree from Princeton University (Doctor of Literature).

June 17, 1770—Itinerant celebrity clergyman George Whitefield preaches to students at Nassau Hall, his last of many visits to Princeton.

June 18, 1963—Rising Princeton senior Robert M. Cover is arrested in Albany, Georgia while helping the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee register African American voters. He will write about this experience and other conflicts with law enforcement in Civil Rights Movement-era Georgia for the Daily Princetonian later in the summer of 1963. Inspired by his work in Georgia, he will suspend his college education to work there as a civil rights activist for a year, ultimately returning to Princeton to complete his degree as a part of the Class of 1965.

For last week’s installment in this series, click here.

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