August 13, 2001

Wayland marks 50 years of integration
___By Teresa Young
___Wayland Baptist University
___PLAINVIEW--It wasn't a matter of breaking new ground or setting a precedent. And it wasn't about who was right or wrong.
___For Annie Taylor, applying to attend Wayland Baptist University was simply a matter

ANNIE TAYLOR

of convenience. But her act, and the college's acceptance, would gain international media exposure for its role as a blow to the nation's practice of segregation.
___This summer marks the 50th anniversary of Taylor's admission to Wayland--and of Wayland's move to voluntarily integrate, becoming the first four-year liberal arts college in the former Confederate South to do so.
___Taylor, a 48-year-old black teacher from Floydada, had a simple goal--she needed a few classes in order to keep her teacher certification. Her alma mater, Prairie View A&M College, located a short distance northwest of Houston, was one option. Huston-Tillotson in Austin was the closest option open to African-Americans. But Wayland College, just 30 miles away, made more sense.
___But that was 1951, a time when the United States still separated blacks from whites in restaurants, restrooms, drinking fountains and public transportation. It was three years before the landmark case Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against segregation in public schools.
___Taylor's quest to enroll

WILLIAM MARSHALL poses in his airplane during his tenure as Wayland president.

at Wayland was motivated by her need to update her education.
___"The legislature had just passed the Gilmer-Aikin Bill, which increased requirements for public school teachers. In order to keep their jobs, they had to take classes and get certified," explained Estelle Owens, professor of history and chairman of the division of social sciences, who serves as the university's official historian. "She just walked in the door and asked (then-registrar) Audrey Boles what people would do if she applied at Wayland."
___Boles apparently took the matter--and Taylor's application dated May 21--to J.W. "Bill" Marshall, the university's president at the time, for his opinion.
___Whether Taylor thought she'd meet opposition at Wayland or not is unclear. A Baptist herself, she likely felt that allowing her to enroll was the Christian thing to do, Owens believes.
___As it turned out, she encountered a man who felt the same way.
___As Wayland's president since 1947, Marshall already had made a name for himself as a visionary. In 1948, he'd led the school to senior college status. He also initiated a ban on smoking, drinking, dancing and playing cards either on- or off-campus, gaining national attention and prompting many to predict Wayland's demise. The opposite had proved true; enrollment increased.
___So when Taylor presented herself as a potential student, Marshall saw it as an opportunity for the college to take a stand and do the right thing.
___"He had thought about (integration) before and wasn't afraid of it," Owens said. "He was very loving and had already led the college in accepting Hispanics, students from South America, Asians and Native Americans. He knew if someone serious came and applied it should happen."
___Owens said Marshall's childhood in Indian territory (now Oklahoma) made him open to all people, and "racism was something he could never understand."
___"Marshall said, 'Jesus reckons with a person's soul, not his packaging,' and he saw that (Wayland) was doing the right thing," she added. "He said later, 'This is maximum Christianity applied as well as advocated, because nothing less would be acceptable.'"
___In Owens' opinion, Marshall's push for Wayland's integration wasn't based on any desire to make a show or start a controversy. But it was a bold step in the culture of the day.
___"It was definitely going out on a limb," Owens said. "There was no tax money for support, just hundreds of sweet little ladies from places like Clarendon who sent in $2 a month. He had to have the support. It was a very bold, brave thing to do."
___After receiving Taylor's request, Marshall spent the next few days gauging campus opinion on integrating. At the urging of trustee Hope Owen (then pastor at First Baptist Church of Plainview and later to become president of the university), Marshall presented a secret ballot to the faculty, who voted unanimously in favor of the question, "Should Negroes be admitted to Wayland College?"
___The same secret ballot was presented to Wayland students gathered for chapel services late in the spring semester of 1951. Of the 274 students polled, only nine voted no.
___With this information in hand, Marshall approached the final decision-makers, Wayland's board of trustees, in a called meeting. Also attending the meeting were the pastors of First Baptist Church and College Heights Baptist Church, both of which had large numbers of Wayland students as members. Both churches had agreed that they would allow black students to join their congregations.
___After a favorable hearing in the special meeting, a formal meeting was scheduled for May 31 to take a final vote.
___Before the vote, trustees engaged in a lengthy discussion, with some arguing for integration and others arguing against it.
___The minutes record of board President W.A. Mayes of Amarillo: "The color line has already been erased at Wayland College, and he wants to be one that is counted for it because he feels that is the board's place and position to back the president."
___Yet others warned about intermarriage, "mixing of the races" and suggested the need to have separate facilities for races. One trustee predicted doom for the university, stating, "The parents of students from my town would try to get their students out of Wayland if Negroes are accepted."
___Despite some opposition, Marshall remained firm in his position, calling on common sense and Christian decency.
___"We are coming to a new age, a new generation," the minutes record him as saying. "Wouldn't it be fine for Baptists to be the leaders? The best thing to do is to open the doors to our schools to all races."
___In the end, the vote was 13-2 in favor of complete integration without any limitations, evidence of Owens' belief that Marshall had quite a following at the university.
___The news of Wayland's voluntary integration reached far and wide. Local and regional papers carried the news, as did Time magazine. The November issue of Ebony magazine featured a six-page spread about the decision.
___Locally, Taylor's application was processed, and classes began on June 4 with her enrolled in two. Another student who had applied on the same day, Ernest Dykes of Plainview, began classes as well. His wife, Vera, and Bessie Williams, a teacher from Muleshoe, also enrolled for that first summer term.
___According to Dykes, now a retired teacher and minister living in the Dallas area, Wayland's acceptance of blacks meant he didn't have to travel for needed classes.
___"I was teaching in Plainview and got a better job in Lubbock. They told me I needed some science courses," he recalled. "I tried up at (West Texas State University), but they wouldn't accept us. I was told we had the right credentials but the wrong color."
___Located just eight blocks from their home, Wayland was a much more convenient place for Dykes and his wife to pick up a few summer courses. He remembers that summer as a positive experience, where he learned a little something about zoology and botany, as well as something about the goodness of others.
___"I learned that there were all kinds of abilities and all nationalities and backgrounds," he said. "Some people feel that some races are above others academically, and you find that in all races. But people were very accepting of us."
___William Marshall poses in his airplane during his tenure as Wayland president. Inset: Annie Taylor.
___?

Get printer-friendly version of this story


Send this story to a friend

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

---

Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!/ Signup for FirstLook