1957 Texas Observer links

Maco Stewart of the UT Young Democrats testifies at a Texas legislative subcommittee that had drafted segregation legislation: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1957/03/19#page=8

The Daily Texan opposes the segregation legislation (Week in Texas): http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1957/03/26#page=5 (scroll down)

Barbara Smith (Conrad) is dropped from the cast of the opera Dido and Aeneas at UT because of the objections of a legislator; the article says a black woman wins the UT Law School “Portia” contest but does not receive the title: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1957/05/07#page=8

Editorial “The Smith Case” condemns the UT administration for agreeing to recast the opera: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1957/05/14#page=2

UT Young Republicans vote unanimously to uphold the Supreme Court and to condemn the legislature’s segregation bills (“The Week in Texas”): http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1957/05/14#page=5 (scroll down)

Campus protests regarding the Dido and Aeneas issue: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1957/05/14#page=8

Cartoon satirizing the UT administration’s recasting of Dido and Aeneas: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1957/05/21#page=2

UT President Logan Wilson defends his decision to remove Barbara Smith (Conrad) from the Dido and Aeneas cast: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1957/05/21#page=8

Letter to the editor (“The Stump”) says that election of a black Portia at the UT Law School is a rumor: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1957/05/31#page=6 (scroll down)

State Sen. Henry Gonzalez’ mail supporting his filibuster against segregation bills includes a letter from a former UT student denied a job at UT because of Mexican ancestry and from a UT student with a black roommate. (http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1957/06/07#page=1; story is at bottom of page and continues on page 4)

UT President Logan Wilson reprimands R. H. Williams, chair of the Romance Languages Department, for seeking to allow a student (Donald Petesch) to attend a Faculty Council meeting discussing the Barbara Smith (Conrad) case: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1957/07/12#page=3

Heman Marion Sweatt resigns from the Cleveland, Ohio, NAACP board to work with the Cleveland Urban League: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1957/11/01#page=5

Daily Texan editor Bud Mims writes that the paper has been “advised to lay off the segregation issue.”: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1957/11/15#page=3

Interview with Bud Mims;  Harley Clark, UT Students Association president;  and Pete Gunter, chairman of student activities for UT’s 75th anniversary. They discuss integration and existentialism, among other topics: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1957/11/29#page=6

Links to Texas Observer on UT civil rights, 1956

The fall semester of 1956 was the first year for integration of undergraduate classes at UT’s main campus. Approximately 80 black students enrolled.

Former UT law student Heman Marion Sweatt reportedly took an overdose of sleeping pills (“This Week in Texas”): http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1956/01/25#page=8

Portrait of Willie Morris, Daily Texan editor at the time: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1956/02/22#page=6

James E. Titus, professor of government at UT, on interposition, the theory advanced by Gov. Allen Shivers and others, that the state could “interpose” between the federal government and the people of the state, for instance, to preserve segregation: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1956/03/07#page=3

Former UT faculty member J. Evetts Haley announces his candidacy for governor as a backer of interposition: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1956/03/07#page=6

UT student assembly passes a resolution welcoming blacks to campus; UT Inter-Co-Op Council votes to integrate its residences; only two UT dormitories will be integrated; Autherine Lucy considers applying to UT: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1956/03/14#page=8

Editorial endorsing Ralph Yarborough for governor recalls Price Daniel’s opposition to the admission of Heman Sweatt to the UT law school: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1956/07/11#page=2

Fagan Dickson, Austin attorney, publishes an article with the American Bar Association dealing with, among other cases, Sweatt V. Painter: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1956/09/05#page=4

Black undergraduates enter UT for the first time, but turmoil over integration of education continues elsewhere in the state: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1956/09/19#page=5

Editorial (scroll down) cites the UT Longhorns being beaten by the integrated team from the University of California: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1956/09/26#page=2

Attorney General John Ben Shepperd seeks to ban the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from operating in Texas;  its pledge to help Heman Sweatt with UT Law School fees is an issue. (Shepperd’s actions caused the NAACP to be almost dormant in the state for a time.): http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1956/10/03#page=4

Among evidence re the state’s prosecution of the NAACP, Thelma White purportedly regretting her decision to enroll at Texas Western (now UT-El Paso): http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1956/10/10#page=4

A cross is burned at the Texas Memorial Museum (Week in Texas). Austin police believe it is a fraternity prank: http://archives.texasobserver.org/issue/1956/10/10#page=5

UT rebuffs Marion Ford

Two wire stories from September 3, 1954, on Marion Ford’s attempt to enter the University of Texas as an undergraduate. (Click image to enlarge.) Clippings courtesy of Dr. Leon McNealy.