Final Stand-In Documentary

The nonprofit Peoples History of Texas has completed its documentary on the stand-ins. To see it, click on their name.

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 6,100 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

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.

University desegregates

From July 8, 1955, courtesy of Dr. Leon McNealy. (Click image to enlarge.)  Texas Western College (now UT-El Paso) abolished segregation in fall 1955 for undergraduates. The Austin campus began admitting black students the following fall.

Radio interview

Podcast of Thorne Dreyer’s interview with Dr. Leon McNealy, broadcast on KOOP Radio in Austin May 6, 2011, in connection with the Precursors Forum at the University of Texas the weekend of the Heman Sweatt Symposium:

A link to the broadcast on the station is here:
McNealy Interview

Mezzo-soprano denied role

May 8 and May 11, 1957,  wire stories on State Rep. Joe Chapman‘s barring Barbara Smith (Conrad) from performing the lead role in Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas at the University of Texas. (Click image to enlarge.) Clippings courtesy of Dr. Leon McNealy.

Frustration for students

Wire story from March 17, 1960, courtesy of Dr. Leon McNealy (Huey McNealy). (Click image to enlarge.) McNealy, Mary Simpson and Sherryl Griffin (Bozeman) met with University of Texas officials as a result of 5,000 students gathering for speak-ins on the UT South Mall, garnering national publicity.  Previously, when Logan Wilson had refused to meet with the students, Sherryl Griffin, later a clergy member, began praying daily on the South Mall as the others stayed near. Students from Hillel later joined the trio, and gradually other students participated. This eventually developed into the “speak-ins” or “read-ins” where students would gather and read the motto on the Tower: “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”

Dear Momma

The “Dear Momma” column by Huey McNealy (Leon McNealy, M.D.) was a regular feature of the Daily Texan editorial page. This is the column from October 23, 1963. (Click images to enlarge.)

Letters, October 25, 1962

The editorial “Anxious Moments in Search of Reason” evidently took exception to actions by the organization Negroes for Equal Rights. Sam Kinch was Daily Texan editor. (Click image to enlarge.)