"March 4, 1960: The Courageous Stand Against Segregation at Texas Southern University"
March 4, 1960
We see Houston as so much with it being such a big and beautiful city. Even so
there’s still so much more that’s yet to be uncovered about this beloved place. One of the
main things I love about my city and what it includes is my admirable and dedicated
HBCU, Texas Southern University. We’ve been through so much as a university, but
there’s something in particular about where the greatness of this school and Houston
started to meet head-on. It started 64 years ago on this day, March 4th, when 13 students
took it upon themselves to plan a sit-in. At this time there was already so much going on
with segregation and racism as a whole; with that being said the sit-in was brought upon
due to a law student being brutally beaten by police. When this came to light these
distinct students had a plan of action where they were going to, in the end desegregate
Houston; seeing this happen to their fellow classmate and it especially happening to a
black person on their campus opened these students' eyes and gave them that hope and
say that things needed to change. Out of the many students that decided to include
themselves in this sit-in there was one individual that stood out to me; Dr. Halcyon
Sadberry Watkins ; she was one of the students who knew enough was enough when it
came to segregation. When the time came for them to do this sit-in they walked from the
Tiger Walk on campus all the way to what used to be a supermarket known as
Weingarten’s which is now a U.S. Postal Service at 4110 Almeda Rd. So many students
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were there to witness and be a part of this historical moment. Students walked into that
supermarket and walked up right to the front knowing they weren’t supposed to be sitting
there and did not care. Seeing signs that said, “ No Colored” or “ Whites Only”, showed
how bad and saddening it was for the black community. At that moment as those
students sat there at that front counter, waiting to be helped, even though they knew they
weren’t going to be their point soon would be proven. You’re probably wondering “Well,
what was their point?”. Their point was to show any and everybody that us as black
people should be treated equally as anybody else, no matter what they look like. While all
this was going on there were some behind the scene factors that were in effect to
desegregate Houston. The mayor of Houston at the time was discussing with other
businessmen on how this could pan out. Although nobody else knew what was going on
Houston did indeed become desegregated. It didn’t happen overnight, but it all started
because students from Texas Southern University saw that there needed to be a change.
Sixty- four years later, someone as myself who’s from Houston and never knew about
this until recently I can say there’s so much power and emotion when hearing about this
story and when and how it took place. Even as a current student at my HBCU, there’s
already so many commendable things about my school, but with this it just adds on to
how amazing this institution is. Not only that but it shows where we came from and the
progress we’ve made together as a whole. Stories like this need to be heard and known
about because this was definitely an eye opener to me to not take advantage of
opportunities that you’re able to have especially when not everyone before had that same
opportunity. Those students, to this day will forever and always be known as those
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college students from Texas Southern University who took a stand to put an end to
segregation in this adored city.