Midwestern University Desegregation - Wichita Falls, TX - Civil Rights Memorials on Waymarking.com

Approved in 2015 and placed in 2017, the historical marker really can't be seen from the street, and it faces into the quadrangle, standing in front of the Ferguson Building's main entrance. It's north of Comanche Trail, between Council Dr to the east and Teepee Trail to the west, and it reads:

In 1948, Emzy Downing and James O. Chandler, both graduates from the African American high school in Wichita Falls, Booker T. Washington High School, applied for admission to Hardin Junior College, a division of Midwestern University. The board of trustees denied their admission. In 1950, with encourag[e]ment from local NAACP leader Professor C.E. Jackson, Willie Faye Battle, an honor graduate, applied by mail for admission to the two-year nursing school at Hardin Junior College. She was accepted, but when she and Professor Jackson went to the school to complete the application process, she was denied admission. Subsequently she was accepted to Prairie View A&M University.

In the fall of 1951, Ms. Battle along with Maryland Virginia Menefee, Helen Muriel Davis, Golden E. Mitchell White, Carl Lawrence McBride and Wilma Jean Norris were encouraged to apply in person. Each applicant received rejection letters in the mail. Following this incident, a meeting was held between the university board of trustees and representatives of the Texas State Council. Alternative solutions were discussed such as a college at Booker T. Washington High School or Midwestern paying the tuition for African American students to attend African American colleges. These alternatives were rejected and a suit was filed in United States District Court, the first of its type. Initially, "Battle et al. v. Wichita Falls Junior College Dist., et al." was decided in favor of the students, but with appeals and injunctions, the final decision came through the Supreme Court in 1954, following the "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka" ruling. The first African American students were enrolled in the summer of 1954.

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Note: Parking can be interesting in this area when school is on, and it goes without saying that, on any college campus, illegal parking is unwise, given the passion that the authorities have for revenue collection.

Civil Right Type: Race (includes U.S. Civil Rights movement)

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Date Logged Log User Rating   09/05/2020 WalksfarTX visited it