Resources & Tools

The creation of African and Afro-American Studies and Research Center resulted from the strategic organizing of Black students at the University of Texas. In 1967, Black students renamed the Negro Association for Progress (NAP) to Afro-Americans for Black Liberation (AABL). In the same year, AABL advocated for the implementation of Black History courses taught by a Black faculty member. Students petitioned and gathered over 1300 signatures. The following year, George Washington Jr. taught the first Black History course at the University of Texas as a guest lecturer. AABL continued to apply pressure to advance the university with a list of eleven demands in 1969, one of which called for the creation of a Black Studies Department.

Steps toward a specific Black Studies department began in 1973 with the recruitment of John L. Warfield, an educational psychologist. Warfield became the director of a distinct Afro American Studies and the African and Afro American Studies Research Center. Under Warfield's thirteen-year leadership, the center continued to advance. Today the center has been renamed to the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• Beginnings of the African and Afro-American Studies and Research Center
• Student Ethnic Studies Program
• AABL's List of Demands

Other Sources

• Edited by Gregory J. Vincent, Virginia Cumberbatch, Leslie A. Blair, As We Saw it: the Story of Integration at the University of Texas at Austin
• UT Black Studies Archive Historical Note, Texas Archival Resources Online

Afro-Americans for Black Liberation (AABL) was founded at UT in the mid-1960s as the Negro Association for Progress (NAP). The organization offered academic support to Black students, and members engaged in activism surrounding issues like the integration of UT athletics and the creation of Black history courses. They adopted the name Afro-Americans for Black Liberation (AABL) during the fall of 1967.

At a rally at the state capitol following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968, AABL president Grace Cleaver presented a list of five demands for the university. The following spring, in 1969, AABL members developed a more formal list of eleven demands. Although many of AABL's demands would go unrealized, this organizing directly led to the creation of a Black Studies program at UT.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• MLK Protest Flyer
• AABL's List of Demands

Other Sources

• Brandon James Render, "Colorblind University: Racial Inequity and Higher Education in the Twentieth Century" PhD diss., University of Texas at Austin, 2022.
• Ibram Kendi, The Black Campus Movement (New York: Palgrave McMillan, 2012).
• Martha Biondi, The Black Revolution on Campus (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2012).

The Anti-Racism Organizing Committee began in 1998 to defend affirmative action. In 1996, the Fifth Circuit ended affirmative action in Texas admissions with the Hopwood v. Texas decision. In response, on October 22, 1998, the Anti-Racism Organizing Committee led a march from the West Mall to the Tower to meet with President Larry Faulkner. The students presented Faulkner with a list of demands to reinstate affirmative action policies.

Four days after students presented their demands, Faulkner agreed to hold town-hall meetings with students. The Anti-Racism Organizing Committee demonstrates student dissent to the ending of affirmative action on the University of Texas campus in the 1990s.

Reverend Freddie Dixon and LaVonne Mason led the charge to launch the Austin Urban League (AAUL), a chapter of the National Urban League, in 1977. Dixon, nicknamed the "Father of the Austin Area Urban League", pastored the local Wesley United Methodist Church beginning in 1973.

Initially, AAUL focused on the needs of Black youth in the Austin school district, specifically around disproportionate suspensions and the attempted closure of the nearby Black middle school, Kealing Middle School. After early successes, the AAUL expanded their platform to include employment, voting, housing and community education.

Other Sources

• Rev. Freddie Dixon Oral History, The University of Texas at Austin Collections
• "Our History," Austin Area Urban League

Austin Women Workers (AWW) brought women in the city together to organize around political issues, primarily sex-based discrimination in the workplace in the early 1970s. Alice Embree founded the AWW after being involved with Leftist organizing on the University of Texas campus.

AWW often collaborated with organizations like the Women's Law Center. One prominent lawyer, Bobby Nelson, led the charge on many cases related to civil rights and women's rights in Austin, including the Janet Berry case addressing sex discrimination at the university.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• Austin Women Workers Flyer

Other Sources

• "Texas Found Guilty in Sex Bias Case," New York Times, February 7, 1977
• Daisy Wang, "UT Alumna Recalls Life of Activism," Daily Texan, December 2, 2016

The Black Student Alliance (BSA) was created in 1981. The inaugural BSA board members included Calvin Guidry (president), Michele Alexander (Vice President), Sabrina Moss (treasurer), and Andrew Floyd (administrative assistant). At the time, Black students represented 2% of the University of Texas student population.

In the '80s and '90s, BSA brought topics that impacted the Black student body to the attention of the University of Texas administration. BSA developed P.R.I.D.E (Proposed Reforms to Institute Diversity in Education), a list of demands to present to president William Cunningham, and responded to racist incidents on campus.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• Local News Articles
• "UT Austin student protest "Blacks administer retention demands"
• March on Capitol for multicultural curriculum reform
• Students Protest President Speech
• Views From The Student Movement Polemicist

Founded by Dr. Wanda Nelson in 1990, the Black Faculty Caucus advocated for the needs of Black faculty, staff and students at the University of Texas. Dr. Nelson was recruited to serve as the Dean of Students for Retention Services and arrived at the University of Texas in 1989.

In 1991, the name was changed to the Black Faculty and Staff Association to demonstrate the contributions of staff members. Today, the organization remains in operation.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• Letter template drafted by Toni Luckett asking for support of a multicultural teach in

Community United Front (CUF) was a Black Power organization founded in Austin, Texas, in 1968. Larry Jackson, a student at UT Austin and a founding member of CUF, served as the organization's chair. Taking inspiration from the Black Panther Party (BPP), CUF engaged in community-driven activism and participated in electoral politics.

CUF operated a free daycare center, a community grocery store, and a liberation school. The organization's most popular and successful venture was its Free Breakfast Program, serving breakfast to over fifty children each day by October 1970.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• "A View of the Community United Front," November 6, 1970
• Community United Front News, October 1971 Issue

Other Sources

• Oral History Interview with Larry Jackson, June 10, 2016
• Brandon James Render, "'Welcome to East Austin': Black Power and the American Dream," Black Perspectives, January 23, 2023

The Daily Texan published its first issue in October 1900. Originally named the Texan, the name was changed 13 years later when students voted to make it a daily publication. For many students, the Daily Texan offered a starting point for their early writing careers. Over the course of the paper's history, 25 former writers have gone on to win Pulitzer Prizes.

Other Sources

• Amelia Kimball and McKenzie Henningsen, "The Daily Texan's 125-year history moves our work forward," the Daily Texan, October 7, 2024
• Joseph Sweeney, "A Look Inside the Daily Texan," The Daily Texan, May 29, 2024

In 1970, the Ethnic Studies Student Committee (ESSC) organized to address student concerns related to the budding Ethnic Studies program at the University of Texas. ESSC members included director Betti Harris, and members Jose Limon, Dorie Lee, Shirley Walker, Mary Helen Martinez, Paul Velez, and Ernie Haywood.

At the University of Texas, students in Ethnic Studies could pursue a focus in African Studies, African American Studies, or Mexican American Studies. However, students expressed a desire to advance the program further with more community engagement.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• Student Ethnic Studies Program
• "A Formal Proposal for An Office of Ethnic Affairs at The University of Texas"

The Gay and Lesbian Students' Association (GLSA) formed in the 1980s. GLSA sought to increase the visibility of gay and lesbian students on the University of Texas campus. In 1984, they declared February 14, "blue jean day" and began hosting an annual Gay and Lesbian Awareness Week.

In 1990, GLSA advanced their awareness campaign to focus on inclusion at the University of Texas. On April 10, 1990, a group of 150 students led by GLSA gathered in the West Mall to protest the homophobia they experienced on campus.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• March on Capitol for multicultural curriculum reform
• Assaults and Threats Against Randy Bowman

The Martin Luther King Jr. Statue Foundation began as a small endeavor by a group of friends determined to honor the history and legacy of MLK Jr. In 1987 the original members began collecting donations in a jar and handing out information on the West Mall.

After eight years of fundraising struggles, the students voted to pass a referendum to fund the statue with $1 in student fees per semester. Finally, a bronze statue of Martin Luther King Jr. was erected in September 1999, built by artists Jeffrey Varilla and Anna Koh-Varilla.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• Martin Luther King Jr. Sculpture Story

Other Sources

• "In Black America; Martin Luther King Statue Dedication on UT Austin Campus," American Archive of Public Broadcasting
• "How the MLK Statue Came to the East Mall," The Alcalde

José Ángel Guitiérrez and Mario Compeon founded the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) of Texas in 1967 at Saint Mary's University in San Antonio. MAYO departed from established Mexican American organizations to prioritize Mexican American education, political organizing, cultural pride, and unity.

On campus, MASO/MAYO drew attention to injustices Mexican Americans experienced. In 1969 the group introduced their 10 demands to University President Norman Hacker, and in 1970, the University of Texas-Austin created a Center for Mexican American Studies in response.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• Rally and March Flyer
• Rally and March Info

Other Sources

• "The Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO): A Catalyst for Chicano Activism," Texas State Historical Association

Founded in 1947, the UT Austin NAACP chapter's main goals included: immediate admittance of all qualified Negroes to the University of Texas, hiring of Negro professors and staff members, abolition of all forms of white supremacy and racist expression, and immediate addition of a course in Negro history.

Even after the landmark Sweatt v. Painter case that integrated the university, Black and other non-Black POC students continued to experience disparate treatment. Through the times, Black students continued to organize for equal rights.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• NAACP Flyer

Included in a report written by the Black Student Alliance and submitted on April 9th, 1990, Project PRIDE created a plan to diversify the curriculum and address the recruitment and retention of minority faculty, students, and staff. The project was re-agitated by racist fraternity incidents during Roundup week.

On April 12th, the Black Student Alliance organized a march with more than 1,000 students and Austin residents. Project PRIDE inspired a multicultural student movement that continued the legacy of student organizing.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• Multiculturalism P.R.I.D.E. and the Politics of Race Flyer
• March on Capitol for Multicultural Curriculum
• Resistance to P.R.I.D.E. on Student Assembly
• Project P.R.I.D.E. Opposition
• Cunningham's Controversial Speech

Second Coming was an Austin based women's liberation newspaper that published biweekly issues. The paper ran from 1970-1971 and held an office at EveryWoman's Center, a downtown meeting spot for courses and organizations concerned with women's issues.

The Women's Liberation Movement came to the University of Texas in 1969 after students organized two protests to critique the objectification of female bodies in advertising. Second Coming allowed young women to express themselves and provide education to their peers.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• Second Coming November Issue

Formed in response to April 1990's racist roundup weekend and the University president's attempts to use Black student athletes to quell protestor demands, the Student Athlete Coalition mobilized athletes to renounce campus racism.

Shola Lynch, a co-founder of the SAC, was later elected to the student assembly and supported the implementation of the Minority Information Center. In a thirty-year lookback, Texas Monthly notes the leaders of the movement became award-winning historians, Olympic gold medalists, pastors, entrepreneurs, and coaches.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• Black student athletes advocating to be connected to the larger student body

Founded in the spring of 1964, the UT chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) initially centered anti-racist organizing and supporting the desegregation efforts of Black activists. On Saturday February 8th, 1964, SDS protested the Texas Cowboys use of blackface during the annual minstrel show.

On October 17th, 1965, students around the world gathered to protest US policy in Vietnam. The UT SDS chapter planned the first major anti-war protest on campus. While the University's chapter eventually closed, the organization continued its work nationally.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• SDS Flyer

Other Sources

• "U.S. INVESTIGATES ANTIDRAFT GROUPS," New York Times

The Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam was a national anti-war movement with over 100 chapters across United States college campuses. In April 1969, the SMC staged a peace parade in Downtown Austin with more than 1,000 demonstrators.

On May 8th, 1970, more than 20,000 peaceful demonstrators gathered for Kent State. Today, the West Mall's concrete blocks and landscaping are designed to prevent large student gatherings—a reminder that the legacy of student organizing is shaped by students' ability to navigate barriers.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• SMC Meeting Notes October 24, 1970

Other Sources

• Revisiting the protest movements at the University of Texas, The Texas Tribune
• "Decades ago, UT Austin students camped out to save dozens of trees. Then police were called in." KUT News

The Texas Union Afro-American Culture Committee formed in conjunction with the Afro-American Research Institute and the Ethnic Studies Department. In the 1970s and 1980s, the committee hosted several events that promoted Black history and culture on the University of Texas campus.

Other Sources

• "Maya Angelou Highlights Black History Month," The Austin Chronicle

A multiracial coalition of student organizers came together to collaborate on "The Improvement of Minority Education (TIME)" initiative in January 1972. The co-chairs were Beatrice Gonzales (president of MAYO), Eddie Blum from the Action Group for Action, and Gordan Johnson of the Blacks.

TIME suggested the university adopt a quota system to lower admission standards for underrepresented students. On March 16, 1972, TIME presented demands to the Board of Regents, who rejected the proposal. TIME exemplifies the collaboration between Black and Mexican American students on collective issues.

Todos Unidos (TU) emerged in 1990 and represented a coalition of Chicano student organizations. After racist fraternity incidents during Round Up, TU crafted a "Manifesto de TU", a list of demands focusing on increasing Latino student recruitment, enrollment, and retention.

On April 26, 1990, nearly 100 students attended a protest on the South Mall. Despite the ending of TU in Spring 1991, it represents the continued legacy of Mexican American student activism on the University of Texas-Austin campus.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• March on Capitol for multicultural curriculum reform

In 1975, the Civil Rights Office of HEW reported violations at the University of Texas in admissions, recruitment, equal opportunity policy, student financial aid, housing, athletics, and Greek social life. MAYO, The Blacks, and the Radical Student Union collaborated to form USARAT.

In Spring 1975, the organization held a rally on the Main Mall and later occupied the University President's office for eight hours. While USARAT's time on campus was short lived, the legacy of coalition building across race, culture, ethnicity, and nationality continues.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• United Students Against Racism at Texas Statement

The University Democrats launched at University of Texas-Austin in 1953. After controversy over which Democrat organization would be the official one, Lewis Stephens became president. The University Democrats have organized UT students around issues related to American politics. Today, University Democrats continues and is the longest standing student group on campus.

Law students at the University of Texas created the UT Coalition for a Diversified Law School (CDLS) in 1989. In 1989, of the 55 tenured professors at the law school, 2 were African American, 4 were women, and none were Mexican American.

The movement mobilized with a boycott of law school classes on April 6, 1989, demanding the university establish a Mexican American Chair, African American Chair and a Women's Chair for faculty. The UT CDLS demonstrates the significant role students had in raising the issue of diversity in faculty hiring.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• UT Law Students Protest

Randy Bowman attended the University of Texas in the late 1980s. While on campus, he served as president of the Black Student Alliance (BSA) and was involved with student protests, including urging the university to divest from South African apartheid. Due to his organizing, Bowman experienced several violent attacks on campus.

On February 20, 1989, the third attack occurred. Two masked white men attempted to push him from the window of his dorm. The FBI eventually took the case but dropped it due to a lack of evidence. Bowman's case highlights the racial violence that continued on the University of Texas campus in the post-Civil Rights era.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• UT Student suffers third racially motivated attack
• Assaults and threats against BSA president, Randy Bowman

Marcus Brown was the president of the Black Student Alliance (BSA) in 1990. This year was critical for BSA as it responded to the racist fraternity events during Roundup. In response, Brown led the BSA in the launch of its educational program, PRIDE (Proposed Reforms to Institute Diversity in Education).

PRIDE introduced a plan to diversify university course material, and address the retention of minority faculty, students and staff. Brown's efforts signify the continued work of Black students to advance anti-racism at the University of Texas.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• Views From The Student Movement Polemicist

Grace Cleaver served as the president of the Afro-Americans for Black Liberation (AABL), originally named the Negro Association for Progress (NAP), in 1968. Through her role as president of AABL, Cleaver played a critical role in Austin Civil Rights protests and on-campus organizing.

During the 1968 protest at Don Weedon's gas station after Weedon's racist attack of a Black UT student, Cleaver played a key part in organizing the action. Additionally, Cleaver was one of the students who advocated for the integration of UT sports teams.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• AABL List of Demands to UT President

William Cunningham was born in Michigan on January 4, 1944. He came to Texas in 1971 as a marketing professor at the UT School of Business. He served as president of the University of Texas at Austin from 1985-1992, then became chancellor of the entire UT system until 2000.

His leadership coincided with significant changes related to affirmative action, fraternity hazing, and Black and Chicano students' activism in the 1990s. Cunningham often rejected the demands that student activists presented him with.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• UT drops two fraternities
• March on Capitol for Multicultural Reforms
• UT Austin student protest "Blacks administer retention demands"
• Students Protest President Speech

Lieutenant Burt Gerding served on the Austin Police force and became most infamous for his service in the Criminal Intelligence Division. Gerding worked closely with the FBI's COINTELPRO and Austin Campus Police, tasked with surveillance of anti-war, Civil Rights, and other leftist organizations.

He would attend student meetings to photograph and take notes of attendees. Eventually, Gerding relied on informants to infiltrate organizations, often taunting student leaders with information to create paranoia within student groups.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• October 24-25 Report on SMC
• A View of the Community United Front

Other Sources

• "Lt. Burt Gerding and I," The Rag Blog
• "The Spies of Texas," Texas Observer

Larry Jackson attended the University of Texas in the late 1960s. Around the time of his arrival, Jackson founded an Austin chapter of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). This chapter focused on youth empowerment, mentorship, and provided practical resources like free breakfast.

Jackson also organized protests at UT football home games to protest the team's refusal to allow Black players on the team. Through this work, Jackson provided new avenues for Black students and developed connections with Black Austinites.

Other Sources

• Oral History Interview with Larry Jackson, The Portal to Texas History, June 2016

Toni Luckett was raised in Austin, Texas and graduated from LBJ High School. After her 1990 election, Luckett became the first Black and first Queer president of the University of Texas student association. Luckett passionately advocated for marginalized communities on campus.

Most prominently, Luckett, along with BSA president Marcus Brown, led a group of students to interrupt a speech by president William Cunningham to urge for dialogue between students and administrators.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• Journal article on Toni Luckett's presidential term
• "Luckett scores sound victory"
• "Tempest in UT-pot"
• Letter template drafted by Toni Luckett
• Students Protest President Speech

Houston native Heman Sweatt was the plaintiff in the Sweatt v. Painter court case that concluded in 1950 after a four-year legal battle. The case allowed Sweatt to attend the UT law school, formally integrating the program, and served as a precursor to Brown v. Board of Education.

The toll of the legal battle, persistent racism, and health issues weighed heavily on Sweatt. He left law school in 1952 and later received a graduate degree in Social Work from Atlanta University. While Sweatt did not finish his law degree at UT, his fight for integration marked a new beginning for Black people locally and nationally.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• Sweatt Campaign Flyer

Other Sources

• "Heman Marion Sweatt: A Civil Rights Pioneer," Texas State Historical Association

Missouri-born John Warfield served as the founding director of the African & Afro-American Studies and Research Center from 1973 to 1986. Warfield arrived at the University of Texas as a professor of educational psychology.

His leadership was essential during a time when there were few Black people on the campus. He retired from his professorship in 2000, and after a long battle with Parkinsons, Warfield passed away in 2007. Today the center bears his name: the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• Beginnings of the African and Afro-American Studies and Research Center

The Sweatt v. Painter court case began in 1946 and concluded in 1950. Heman Sweatt was the plaintiff after he had been denied admission to the University of Texas law school on the basis of his race. The NAACP and the Austin African American community supported Sweatt's legal fight financially, campaigned for public opinion, and provided his family with housing and food.

In the end, Sweatt successfully integrated the UT law school. However, the toll of the legal battle, persistent racism, and health issues made it difficult for Sweatt. In 1952, he left the law school. While Sweatt did not finish his law degree at UT, his fight for integration marked a new beginning for Black people locally and nationally.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• Sweatt Campaign Flyer

In the early 1960s, segregation continued in Austin. To promote integration at the Varsity Theater and the Texas Theater, a group of mostly white organizers would stand in line to purchase a movie ticket in pairs. A white student would ask to purchase a ticket for themselves and their friend, a Black student. They would be denied entry and would return to the back of the line to repeat the process.

Despite this nonviolent approach, pro-segregationists often targeted these students with physical violence. The following year, the stand-ins succeeded in desegregating the theaters. The Stand-in Protests exemplify how University of Texas student organizing impacted the city of Austin.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• UT Stand-In Flyer
• Students Protest Theater Segregation

Other Sources

• "Remembering when UT students led the effort to open Austin's movie theaters to Black patrons despite threats of violence," KVUE ABC
• "Stand Ins Austin Texas," A People's History in Texas, Inc

On April 27, 1968, Don Weedon attacked a Black UT student, Leo Northington, at the Lemon Tree Club. Weedon, owner of Conoco Gas Station, had been making derogatory remarks. Northington ignored the taunts until Weedon began beating him. Officers did not file the assault until nearly a week later.

Larry Jackson organized students and community members to boycott Weedon's gas station. Over 100 people showed up to the two-day picket. During the protest, police arrested 33 protesters the first day and 53 the second day. Despite the peaceful protest, police treated the protesters aggressively. This protest highlighted the possibilities for collective organizing between the Austin community and UT students.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• Black Student Attacked SDS Flyer

Other Sources

• "Don Weedon's Conoco Station: Students Organize Campus and Community Protests Following Police Brutality," Rocking the Status Quo

Randy Bowman, president of the Black Student Alliance, experienced three racially motivated attacks and repeated death threats. In 1985, two white men struck Bowman in the head with a pipe and a bottle. Later that year, Bowman was targeted in a bomb threat.

In 1986, during the third attack, masked perpetrators held Bowman at gun point and attempted to throw him from his eighth-floor dorm room window. The University initially refused to investigate until Black students protested. For Black students, Bowman's experience reflected the severity of white supremacy on campus.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• UT Student suffers third racially motivated attack
• Assaults and threats against BSA president, Randy Bowman

In 1990, two fraternities were involved in racist incidents during Round Up, the Interfraternity Council's annual fundraiser. Delta Tau Delta wrote anti-Black racial epithets on a car before demolishing the vehicle. Members of Phi Gamma Delta sold t-shirts on campus with a racist caricature on the body of Michael Jordan.

Students organized protests to call for punishment of the fraternities and to push for more Black representation in university curriculum. These events triggered PRIDE by the Black Student Alliance and the "Manifesto de TU" by Todos Unidos. The racist incidents emphasized the urgency of implementing programs that supported diversity on campus.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• UT drops two fraternities
• March on Capitol for Multicultural Reform

Efforts for a statue on the University of Texas campus to honor Dr. Martin Luther King began in 1987 when students created the Martin Luther King Jr. Statue Foundation. The group became interested in the statue to diversify the historical figures represented on campus beyond the Confederate monuments.

After over a decade of fundraising through bake sales, T-shirt sales, benefit concerts, donations, and eventually a student fee referendum, artists Jeffrey Varilla and Anna Koh-Varilla built the statue, officially erected in September 1999. The Foundation represents the determination of UT students over 12 years to erect a sculpture honoring an American Civil Rights Leader.

Primary Sources in the Collection

• Martin Luther King Jr. Sculpture Story