Texas College

Texas College
Former names
 Phillips University
Motto Per lumen scientiae viam invenient populi (Latin)
Motto in English
 "Give The People Light, and They Will Find Their Way"
Type Private, HBCU
Established 1894
Religious affiliation
 Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
Endowment $3.2 million (2016)[1]
President Dr. Dwight J. Fennell, Sr.
Students 972
Location Tyler, Texas,
USA
32°22′32″N 95°18′45″W / 32.375603°N 95.312394°W / 32.375603; -95.312394Coordinates: 32°22′32″N 95°18′45″W / 32.375603°N 95.312394°W / 32.375603; -95.312394
Colors Purple and Gold          
Athletics NAIA – RRAC, CSFL
Nickname Steers
Affiliations CIC
UNCF
Sports 9 varsity teams (7 sports)
(5 men and 4 women teams)
Mascot Steers
Website www.texascollege.edu

Texas College is an accredited historically black four-year college located in Tyler, Texas that is affiliated with the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and the United Negro College Fund. On January 9, 1894, Texas College was founded by a group of ministers affiliated with the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church, a predominantly black denomination which was at the time known as the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America.

They planned to provide for education of African-American students, who were excluded from the segregated university system of Texas. They planned a full literary, scientific and classical education for theology, normal training of lower school teachers, music, commercial and industrial training, and agricultural and mechanical sciences.

History

On January 9, 1894, Texas College was founded by a group of ministers affiliated with the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church, a black denomination. They planned a full, co-educational college to serve people in eastern Texas.

On June 12, 1909, the name of the college was changed from Texas College to Phillips University. It was named for Bishop Henry Phillips and his leadership. The name reversal occurred in 1910 at the Third Annual Conference of the church. In May 1912, the college was officially renamed Texas College. The subsequent years of the College were spent with refinements and enhancements of the educational enterprise.

The Articles of Incorporation reflect such efforts with modifications and amendments during periods 1909 to 1966. The College today is open to all individuals without discrimination on the grounds of national origin, race, religion, or sex. It is authorized to offer instruction in the areas of Arts and Sciences, Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, preparation of teachers, and the provision of instructional supports, to those in pursuit of an education.

Academics

Texas College offers bachelor's degree programs in biology, business administration, criminal justice, computer science, English, interdisciplinary studies (teacher certification), mathematics, music, liberal studies, religion, social work and sociology. Also available are Associate of Arts degrees in early childhood education and general studies, as well as a post-baccalaureate alternative certification teacher education program for people with bachelor's degrees.[2]

Athletics

In 1920, eight men representing six historically black colleges in the state of Texas met to discuss collegiate athletics and their respective challenges. By the time the session in Houston had concluded, they had founded an athletic league that is now part of the highest level of collegiate sports competition in the U.S. (NCAA Division I), the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The founding fathers of the original "Super Six" were C. H. Fuller of Bishop College, Red Randolph and C. H. Patterson of Paul Quinn College, E .G. Evans, H. J. Evans and H. J. Starns of Prairie View A&M, D. C. Fuller of Texas College, and G. Whitte Jordan of Wiley College.

Texas College was a member of the SWAC from 1920 to 1961 (41 years). Texas College was SWAC football champions in 1934, 1935, 1936, 1942 and three-way champions with Wiley College and Langston University in 1944, finishing the season with a conference record of 5-1 and an overall record of 8-1. The last SWAC football victory was against Prairie View A&M University in 2003 by a score of 21 to 10.

Today, the Texas College Steers are members of the NAIA, which competes in the Red River Athletic Conference. Its football team was revived as an official sport in 2004, and competes in the Central States Football League. The Texas College football team won two CSFL Conference Co-Championships in 2005 and 2006.

Men's sports include baseball, basketball, football, golf, soccer, cross country, and track & field. Women's sports include basketball, soccer, softball, track & field, cross country, and volleyball.

Student Life

Residence halls

Texas College constructed a new residence hall, The Living and Learning Center (LLC), that opened in 2016.

Residence halls also include the Daniel and the Maddie A. Fair Residence Hall, which were renovated in 2016 as well.[3]

Marching Band

The Texas College Marching Band is a 50+ member band that performs at athletic and special events. The band is accompanied by the "Golden Girls" dance team and a flag team.

Greek organizations

Notable Alumni

Name Class Year Notability Reference(s)
Billye Suber Aaron 1958 Non profit executive and television personality; first African American woman in the southeast to co-host a daily, hour-long talk show. Wife of baseball legend Hank Aaron.
Irma P. Hall 1956 Poet, stage and film Actress; nominated and has received NAACP Image Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Soul Food. In 2004, won Prixe du Jury from Cannes Film Festival for her performance in The Ladykillers ; inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in 2005; co-founder of the Dallas Minority Repertory Theatre.
Dr. Jesse W. Jones 1954 Professor of Chemistry Baylor University; member of the Texas House of Representatives 1992-2006.
Andrew Melontree Sr. 1952 First Black elected as Tyler County Commissioner; first Black Medical Laboratory Technician for Medical Center Hospital; first Black Medical Laboratory Director for the East Texas Tuberculosis Hospital; first Black Bacteriologist for Mother Francis Hospital.
E, Grace Payne 1941 Executive Director of the Westminister Neighborhood Association of Los Angeles; Appointed by Mayor Bradley as City Commissioner to the Los Angeles Convention and Exhibition Center Authority.
Dr. Mildred Faye Jefferson 1944 The first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School, the first woman to graduate in surgery from Harvard Medical School and the first woman to become a member of the Boston Surgical Society,
Hubert B. Crouch 1927 Zoologist. Founder of the National Institute of Science. Professor of Biology at Kentucky State University, Professor and Head of the Department of Biology and Director of the Division of Science at Tennessee State University. In 1950 became the first full Dean of the TSU Graduate School. In 1966, the Graduate School Building was named for him .
Walter Derrick 1953 Elected Mayor Gladewater, Texas. Retired in 2012 after serving 22 years.
Gladys Mozell Waters Square 1946 In 1989, became the first female member of Tyler City Council.
Weldon H. Berry 1941 Eightieth Civil District Court of Harris County Judge and Civil Rights Attorney; cooperating attorney for the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund; founding member of the Houston Lawyers Association.
Doris Hollis Pemberton Entered Texas College at age 16, graduated from Texas Southern in 1955. Black civic leader, lawyer and author; in 1944 became first black reporter to cover a state Democratic convention in Texas. She wrote for the Dallas Express. She wrote a book, Juneteenth at Comanche Crossing (1983), a history and reminiscence of people and places in her native Limestone County.
Dr. Joseph Ralph Williams 1942 In 1954 Williams and his partner Jordan, were two of five black doctors allowed to practice at St. Paul Hospital in Dallas. In 1955 Williams became one of three African-American physicians to be admitted into the Dallas County Medical Society. Became director of the Public Health Department for the city of Dallas in 1976.

Notable Faculty

Department Name Notability Reference(s)
Head Texas College football coach 1931 to 1935. Coach Arnett “Ace” Mumford Class of 2018 finalist for the Black College Football Hall of Fame; National College Football Hall of Fame in 2001; West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2011; Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1984
President 1931-1961 Dominion Robert Glass Under his direction, Texas College became accredited by the Texas Education Agency as a Standard Senior College and was given an “A” rating by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. The college also gained membership in the Association of American Colleges, the Association of Church-Related Colleges, the American Council on Education, the National Association of Collegiate Deans and Registrars, the United Negro College Fund, Inc., the National Institute of Science, and the Association of Texas Colleges. During Glass’s tenure, the school’s enrollment grew from 233 students to 2,274. The number of faculty members increased from ten members to 100. Thirty-five new buildings were built; the school’s income tripled, and a special program was implemented for veterans.
Head of the Humanities Division at Texas College Dr. Lena Beatrice Morton American educator and literary scholar. While at T.C., she was recipient of the Minnie Stevens Piper Professor Award for excellence in teaching. She was a life fellow of the International Institute of Arts and Letters in Switzerland. Author of Negro Poetry in America (1925), Farewell to the Public Schools, I'm Glad We Met: A Handbook for Teachers (1952), Man Under Stress (1960), Patterns of Language Usage, My First Sixty Years: Passion for Wisdom (1965), and The Influence of the Sea Upon English Poetry from the Anglo-Saxon to the Victorian Period (1976). She graduated from the University of Cincinnati (UC) and was a founding member of the school's first African American Greek organization, Zeta Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Dr. Morton earned her Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University in 1947. She is featured in vol. 6 of African American National Biography, edited by H. L. Gates, Jr. and E. B. Higginbotham.
Director of Religious Life and Instructor of philosophy and religion, 1965-1969 Dr. William H. Wiggins, Jr. Ordained minister of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. For 34 years was Professor of African American and African Diaspora studies and folklore and ethnomusicology and one of the original faculty members for Indiana University’s African-American studies department. Also created the course at IU "The Black Church in America." His publications include: O Freedom: Afro-American Emancipation Celebrations (University of Tennessee Press, 1987), Jubilation!: African American Celebrations in the Southeast, with Doug DeNatale (University of South Carolina Press, 1994), Joe Louis: American Folk Hero (Phi Delta Kappa International, 1991) John O. Killens use of black folktales in his novels, "Youngblood", "And then we heard the thunder", and " 'Sippi" and wrote chapter in book Celebration, studies in festivity and ritual "They closed the town up, man!": reflections on the civic and political dimensions of Juneteenth and two documentary films: In the Rapture (1978) and The Rapture Family (1978). Awarded major fellowships and grants by the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ford Foundation.
Department of Music Dr. Mitchell B. Southall Musician, composer and arranger of sacred music and Negro spirituals. Lane College chair of the Department of Humanities, Texas College as head of the Department of Music, and at Mississippi Valley College as professor of music.

References

  1. ↑ "U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2016 Endowment Market Value and Change* in Endowment Market Value from FY2015 to FY2016" (PDF). NACUBO.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-04-02. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  2. ↑ Texas College Catalog
  3. ↑ "Residential Life Handbook" (pdf).
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