Generations of Pride - Texas Southern University

In 1947, the Texas Legislature establishedthe Texas State University for Negroes inan effort to maintain the status quo of“separate but equal.”Though public policy, judicial decisions andthe attitudes of some individuals segregatedAmericans by race, the resourcesof government were not equallydivided.In 1954, the United StatesSupreme Court’s decision inBrown vs. The Board of Educationwould be the high watermark inthe judicial battle against legalsegregation. Even after Brown therestill remained public policy andjudicial struggles for equal accessto education, civil rights, votingrights, public accommodations, fairhousing, contracting opportunitiesand employment opportunities.In 1963, the Reverend Dr. MartinLuther King, Jr. reminded our nation that the CivilRights Movement was more than just a struggle forlegal rights. He reminded our nation, and the world,that it was also a moral struggle for social justice andeconomic empowerment.Dr. King opened his “I Have a Dream” speech at theMarch on Washington with these words:A Legacy to Live Up ToBy Carroll G. Robinson, Esq. & Dr. Theophilus Herrington“[W]e must alwayskeep our eyesfirmly fixed onwhat we wish tobecome.”Robert J. TerryPresident, Texas Southern University(1986-1987)a shameful condition. In a sense we’ve cometo our nation’s capital to cash a check.When the architects of our republic wrotethe magnifi cent words of the Constitutionand Declaration of Independence, theywere signing a promissory note to whichevery American was tofall heir. This note wasthe promise that all men,yes, black men as wellas white men, wouldbe guaranteed theunalienable rights of life,liberty, and the pursuit ofhappiness.It is obvious today thatAmerica has defaulted onthis promissory note in sofar as her citizens of colorare concerned. Insteadof honoring this sacredobligation, Americahas given the Negro people a bad check;a check which has come back marked“insuffi cient funds.” We refuse to believethat there are insuffi cient funds in the greatvaults of opportunity of this nation. And sowe’ve come to cash this check, a checkthat will give us upon demand the riches offreedom and the security of justice.Five score years ago, a great American,in whose symbolic shadow we stand today,signed the Emancipation Proclamation.This momentous decree came as a greatbeacon light of hope to millions of Negroslaves who had been seared in the fl amesof withering injustice. It came as a joyousdaybreak to end the long night of theircaptivity.But one hundred years later, the Negrostill is not free; one hundred years later, thelife of the Negro is still sadly crippled by themanacles of segregation and the chainsof discrimination; one hundred years later,the Negro lives on a lonely island of povertyin the midst of a vast ocean of materialprosperity; one hundred years later, theNegro is still languished in the corners ofAmerican society and fi nds himself in exilein his own land.So we’ve come here today to dramatizeThe Texas State University for Negroes wasrenamed Texas Southern University in 1951 and in1973 was designated a special purpose institution ofhigher education by the Texas Legislature.In the Fall of 1974, Granville M. Sawyer, thenPresident of Texas Southern University, in hisConvocation speech stated, “With the approval ofthe establishment of the School of Public Affairs bythe Coordinating Board on July 16, 1974, we then hadin place the obligatory programs and arrangementsfor achieving our potential as a “special purpose”University.”In 2003, the Board of Regents of Texas SouthernUniversity named the School of Public Affairs in honorand remembrance of the life work and advocacy ofthe late Congresswoman Barbara Charline Jordanand Congressman George “Mickey” Leland.These two great Houstonians, Americans andalumni of Texas Southern University were nationaland internationally recognized human and civil rights24 Spring 2006 • Generations of Pride