"Silencing Houston's Jim Crow": TSU students made a difference 48 years ago

By Kangsen Feka Wakai

Last month, Texas Southern University celebrated the 48 year anniversary of student sit-ins which forced Houston to confront civil right issues with a reenactment march of the events.

On March 4, 1960, TSU students met at a campus flag post and marched to what was then Weingarten's Supermarket at 4110, the current site of the United States Post Office. Once they arrived at Weingarten's, the students began their sit-in at the lunch counter.

"As students, we were in a better position to protest because (we thought) there was going to be little retaliation," said Otis King, a Houston attorney and one of the student protesters.

None of the students were hurt said the Fifth Ward native, but Mr. King said youthful boldness did not protect Felton Turner. The African American man was attacked, beaten with chains, hung on a tree and branded with three Ks on his back.

Recently, TSU faculty, staff and students viewed 'Silencing Jim Crow', a film project which explored the brave role some students played in tearing down the walls of segregation in Houston.

"This film is geared toward the younger generation because many of you are not aware of what they had to go through," said film producer, TSU professor Serbino Sandifer-Walker to the viewing audience.

The documentary also featured an in depth interview with Arthur Gaines-the man responsible for desegregating Houston's restaurants and hotels.

After the screening, Professor Maurice Hope-Thompson of the School of Communication moderated a panel that included three of the former student protesters. Joining Mr. King were Dr. Earl Allen and former TSU professor, Holly Hogrobrooks.

The panelists revealed their individual and collective motivations for joining the ranks of those willing to confront Jim Crow.

"If you know it's the right thing to do and feel comfortable with it, then you should do it," said Ms. Hogrobrooks.

Ms. Hogrobrooks was no stranger to activism. She said her parents were involved in voter registration drives and instilled in her a sense of social responsibility that manifested itself at the student sit-in 1960.

Mr. King who was in law school at the time knew of the probability of receiving negative scrutiny in his field for his involvement in the sit-in but said he could not be dissuaded from joining the struggle.

"What motivated me were awakenings (I had), where things become clear. The first was when Martin Luther King initiated the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Then when we saw what the students in North Carolina were doing, it just blew my mind," said Mr. King.

Dr. Allen recalled how their stance on March 4, 1960 rattled that system to its core. The authorities in Houston, including the mayor had sworn that they weren't going to tolerate any challenge to the status quo.

"We knew our place. They knew their place. And knew we knew our place. This day, we decided to get out of our place and they didn't know what to do," said Dr. Allen.

For more information on the project chronicling those historic events visit:

www.houstonstudentmovement.com