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still shot from the documentary, The Strange Demise of Jim Crow
University was established in 1947 under Texas State Senate Bill 140, granting it authority to offer courses of higher learning in pharmacy, dentistry, journalism, education, arts and sciences, literature, law, medicine, and other professional courses. The University, as established by the Fiftieth Texas Legislature, was originally known as "Texas State University for Negroes." However, the name was changed by the
legislature in 1951 to Texas Southern University. The School of Law, as well as the University at large, was undoubtedly created as a consequence of a 1946 lawsuit brought by Heman M. Sweatt.
Under the Texas Constitution, which required separate but equal treatment, Mr. Sweatt was refused admission to the University of Texas Law School because he was black. As a result the legislature provided for an interim and separate law school for Negroes. During its first academic year, the law school was housed in Austin, Texas, and was subsequently transferred to the new university campus in Houston. Since that time, the School of Law has become an integral part of the university campus. Prior to 1976, the law school was housed in Hannah Hall - the University's administrative complex. On February 14, 1976, the school was formally designated as the Thurgood Marshall School of Law in honor of the distinguished former U.S. Supreme Court Justice and was moved to its present location. It is appropriate to note that Justice Marshall, at the time chief counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, successfully argued Heman M. Sweatt's case before the United States Supreme Court. we would be grateful to hear your personal stories, suggestions and comments