In honor of Black History Month, the College of Education welcomed distinguished guests and facilitated an in-depth discussion about the book, As We Saw It: The Story of Integration at the University of Texas at Austin.
Published by UT Press, As We Saw It features the powerful stories of integration at UT, including desegregation of campus housing.
On February 13, students, faculty and staff filed into Parker Hall to hear from Dr. Gregory J. Vincent and Leslie A. Blair, two of the three co-editors of the book. Dr. Vincent, an acclaimed civil rights attorney, taught law at UT Austin and served as vice president of Diversity and Community Engagement. Blair served as executive director of communications for Diversity and Community Engagement before starting her own firm, Asher-Blair Communications. She continues to work with UT Charter Schools and UT Elementary.
Dr. Vincent and Blair were joined by Judith Jenkins, a longtime physical therapist for Round Rock ISD who spent her freshman year at UT, and civil rights trailblazer Colonel Leon Holland. Col. Holland are Precursors, the title recognizing the first cohort of Black undergraduate students to attend and integrate the University in the 1950s. In 1956, Col. Holland was one of 12 Black freshmen to enter the University and was the first Black person to receive an ROTC commission. His wife, Peggy Drake Holland, is also a Precursor. She began at UT in 1958, and was the first Black student to graduate from the McCombs School of Business.
Opening the discussion, Dr. Vincent said, What is legal is not always just. It takes courage – youthful coverage – to move and sustain excellence and access. Think of the Precursors, who came to a hostile environment, to an institution that didn’t want them.
Dr. Vincent continued: What was so impressive about these remarkable Texans is that they said, this is our university. It was part of a broader landscape of young people taking claim to what was rightfully theirs, and doing it in a way that was honorable, that took the moral high ground, and made people in authority look bad.
Col. Holland and Mrs. Jenkins shared their personal experiences and historical perspectives concerning civil rights and equality, and the impact on today’s society.
Judith Jenkins grew up in a multigenerational family in East Austin, the oldest of six girls. She had uncles who attended college, which made her realize that higher education was within reach. At the time, Jenkins said, UT tuition was $50 a year.
I knew I could do it,
Jenkins said. My grandparents were all about education. We didn’t even talk about it. You go to school. That’s your job.
Jenkins recalled that her biggest challenge was trying to feel included.
She left UT after one year to follow her husband, who graduated from UT, to Detroit where he found a job as a mechanical engineer. Jenkins continued her studies and graduated with a degree in physical therapy from Wayne State University. When she and her husband returned to Central Texas to raise their family, she encouraged her children to attend UT, despite not having fond memories of her own UT experience.
It was still the best education you could get for the dollar – and it still is. It’s a world-class education and it’s cheap and that’s hard to beat,
Jenkins said.
Growing up in San Antonio in what he described as a racially blended neighborhood, Col. Holland never expected the poor treatment he and his peers would face at UT. They were housed in barrack-type residences on San Jacinto, rather than in the main campus dormitories, and were barred from the campus cafeterias.
We did not have mentors,
Col. Holland recalled. I don’t think we even had a freshman orientation. We were on our own.
After Col. Holland left UT, he vowed never to return. Fortunately, as time went on, his perspective shifted. In the mid-1970s, he learned that Texas Exes was working to recruit more Black students, which he recognized as the first sign that UT was making efforts to address past injustices.
By the mid-1990s, having retired from the military, he observed a genuine commitment to transforming campus culture. That’s when he said he knew he had to get involved. “For me to see the leadership, and to see the change that has taken place, has changed my entire attitude about the campus,” Col. Holland said.
Col. Holland served this country, even though his treatment was not always equitable, but he served,
Dr. Vincent said. He proudly used his degree to serve this country, yet he did not always feel welcome. One of the real joys is to see this evolution and inclusion of these great Texans, American citizens, and UT alums to come back.
The story is as relevant back in 1956 as it is today.
The third editor of As We Saw It: The Story of Integration at the University of Texas at Austin is Virginia A. Cumberbatch, a former student at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Policy and director of the Community Engagement Center at UT Austin.
