的 Black story of TCU doesn’t begin in 1964 with desegregation, when the first few Black undergrads enrolled (if only for a short while). 故事在很久以前就开始了 和 alongside the Black American experience, which shaped our nation, state, city 最后是我们的大学.
弗雷德里克·W. 小古丁博士. 罗纳德·E. Moore Honors Professor of Humanities –
with colleagues Sylviane Ng和u-Kalenga Greensword, postdoctoral fellow, 和 Marcellis
Perkins, doctoral c和idate – are the authors of A History to Remember: TCU有紫色，白色和黑色. Timed with TCU’s Sesquicentennial, their book represents a historical accounting
of the collective Black American experience as filtered through the more specific
“TCU的镜头，”古丁说.
“It’s not that no one has ever written about the Black experience in relation to TCU, but nothing is as concentrated to this degree,” he 说. “It’s the beginning of conversation, 和 we hope to add more voices onto it 和 that there will be different iterations.”
的 183-page hardback is told as a volume of essays, starting with TCU’s beginning as a small Reconstruction-era co-ed Christian school to a still-predominately white institution that is committed to reconciliation 和 racial healing. 它共享 voices of how Black Americans experienced TCU over time in light of societal changes 以及TCU的政策变化.
有150th anniversary underway, it’s time – if not past time – to tell this story, Gooding 说.
“This is a story that’s been 150 years in the making. 看看最近发生的事情 和 the conversations those rekindled after the summer of 2020, TCU responded with 比赛 & Reconciliation Initiative to look at its relationship to slavery, racism 和南部联盟，"他指出. “Let’s not erase but embrace the past 和 look at this as an opportunity to show how we’re making progress.”
From Black workers like Charley 和 Kate Thorp who were employed by AddRan Male 和 Female College for more than 20 years, to everyday people who raised their voices 和 intervened, Blacks have had a fingerprint or footprint at TCU since the very beginning. But covering 150 years was challenging, so the authors divided the timeline into windows: Founding Years (1861-1891); Transition to Integration (1941-1971); 和 Recent but 相关历史(1998-2020).
“When we talk about telling this story, aside from the ‘firsts,’ like Allene Jones (who in 1962 broke the color barrier as a graduate student), it’s not as ‘black 和 white’ as it appears,” 说 Gooding.” For example, the five first Blacks who came to TCU as undergraduates in 1964-65 did not return.
“的 first actual class of 1964 washed out,” Gooding 说. “这是移植的 Black teens who came to this campus in the years that followed that had to navigate 真正的集成.”
的y, 和 the Black faculty 和 staff, would become part of a legacy upon which others 站.
Some of those voices of students, staff, faculty 和 alumni were literally recorded 作者:. 的y also visited local archives like the Granbury Depot 和 Hood County Courthouse to obtain official records 和 other documents. 还有更多的故事 是从诸如 的 小船年鉴， TCU杂志 和 TCU Special Collections, plus TCU Board of Trustee 和 Student Government Association 分钟.
的 book also looks at the role of Black athletes, including Dr. 詹姆斯一世. 现金, in 1966 was the first Black student-athlete at TCU 和 the first Black basketball player in the Southwest Conference. Another chapter is dedicated to Black alumni 和 their achievements after leaving TCU 和 post-graduation contributions.
Gooding 和 his co-authors made sure they didn’t circumvent painful memories, like students’ use of blackface, Confederate flags on display, racial tensions 和 outright discrimination, even death threats.
“It’s the difficult times that we learn the most from,” Gooding 说. “但是有些人 the most significant policy changes at our institution occurred because students intervened. 的y took initiative because they cared, 和, as a result, the university changed 课程.”
While there are challenges still ahead that are also documented in the book, Gooding is hopeful, thanks largely to the RRI.
“Now TCU is able to grow from those dark chapters,” Gooding 说. “永远不太可能 late to walk the path of reconciliation.”
的 TCU有紫色，白色和黑色 book itself, Gooding hopes that for those who pick it up, if they don’t read it from cover to cover, they’ll open to different sections 和 be surprised.
“Chances are that in nibbles 和 bites, they are going to uncover 和 discover something 他们以前不知道，”他说. “Hopefully a book like this makes sense to students of present 和 is a reminder that they too are connected to this history.”
这本书可以通过 TCU的新闻 和 in limited quantities at the TCU Campus Store.
Learn about other 150th commemorative books including Images 和 Stories of TCU's First 100 Years 1873-1973, Walking TCU: A Historic Perspective, 一个值得讲述的故事 和 智慧的希望.