Sources
The archival sources that I found included two that particularly stuck out to me, and they don’t seem to have an immediate connection beyond being centered around black women. However, they both address the social concerns of black women at TCU in the early 1970s, and some of TCU’s first post-integration classes. The first source was from The Daily Skiff Vol. 71, No. 18. It is a very short piece (approximately two paragraphs) on the first rush of the sorority Delta Sigma Theta. This was the first sorority that was primarily for students of color, mainly black women, on TCU’s campus, even though they had been around for some time in the Ft. Worth area previous and had a chapter. The other source was from the 1973 issue of The Horned Frog, a pseudo-yearbook catalogue of the different student groups on campus. The portion I focus on was very simply titled, “Blacks.” Both of these objects were found in TCU’s Special Collections. The 1973 edition of The Horned Frog was found in the collection under that name online, and the Skiff article was within the Skiff collection.
Rhetoric
The rhetoric of these two articles is wildly different. The Skiff piece is very much just informative, and little more. It is mentioned that Delta Sigma Theta is a service oriented sorority that aims to provide work for the community, and then outlines a bit of the sorority’s history in the Ft. Worth area. I noticed that the article is extremely barebones, only noting how the rush process works (initiation involves doing service work) and some of the service work being done, like getting people registered to vote, helping at hospitals, and other community service. Worth bringing up, though, is that Asia is described as “the Orient” directly below in the next article. The Horned Frog piece, “The Blacks,” however, is provocative from the title onwards. Among the many people interviewed for that section, Joyce Bailey, Jennifer Ross, and Ray Turner (who was the head of the TCU NAACP at the time, and is worth looking into at another time) provide some key insight into the frustrations of black students on campus. The language of the article does a very good job of making sure that these student’s voices are allowed to speak for themselves; no white perspective is offered on black issues. It is important to note, however, that black students are referred to as “blacks” throughout the entirety of the article. Black women, in particular are often referred to as "Miss" and their name, as opposed to the men who are referred to by their last names only. While this may have been deemed acceptable by some in that time, it is less so now. In the article, many of the photos of black students around campus are far less than flattering, and some feel as though they simply zoomed in on photos of black students at other events unexpectedly. One photo, in particular, shows a black student very much asleep on a couch. Whether or not this was intentional (and if nothing else, it is a relatable thing when in college,) it feels somehow uncomfortable. To finish off this, there are eight photos of students, only one of which is definitely a black woman.
Relevance
An interesting observation I had while reading these was that many of the arguments made by students of color, and in particular black women on campus, have stayed the same from the 1970’s to now. Debbie Bailey has to explain what black sororities do and are, which is nothing new to many students on campus who are currently engaged in multicultural sororities and fraternities. This article was likely thus written for students who were white, which is understandable given the overwhelmingly white nature of campus in 1972, even compared to now. Joyce Bailey discusses why many black students hang out with each other, with many shared cultural experiences. This is likely one of the (many) reasons that Debbie Bailey helped create a chapter of Deltas here. J. Bailey also points out how she feels that TCU is “afraid of blacks” in terms of administrators being incapable of helping black students to have their needs met. This is not a new problem, clearly, and it is one that is still being felt very strongly today. One only has to see the student demands and protests that led to the formation of CRES at TCU to see that this school’s administration has changed very little since this piece was written in 1972. Jennifer Ross talks about being tokenized and alienated in class for being the only black student, and the way housing did not help her when her roommates would make racist remarks at her. While one could argue that there has been some improvement in those areas, it takes little to no energy to find that students of color experience those exact same things at TCU today. I feel that this pushes against the argument of a progressive history. It is important to take note from bell hooks that white women (when they choose to pay attention at all) often romanticize black women’s oppression, and so the experiences that students like Jennifer had should be taken for what they are: racism. bell hooks also points out the crossroads that black women often find themselves in; black and woman, amongst other potential identities. These crossroads still provide structural barriers that black women face at TCU. As an endnote, the only thing that is drastically different is that black students felt that TCU was only recruiting black students for sports when they absolutely had to, so during the 70’s most of TCU’s sports teams were still majority white.
Are They a Part of TCU's History?
I believe that all of the women in the pieces I found would consider themselves women of color at TCU. Whether or not they see themselves as part of the history here is a question that they likely have to answer for themselves. I believe that all of them provide insight into the way that TCU has treated black women in the past, and could provide ways for black women here today to find solidarity with those who came before them. These women have also provided a reference point to show that not much has actually changed at TCU for those who are black women. If The Horned Frog article changed “blacks” to “black students” it honestly would be applicable in many ways still today, with one exception (outlined earlier).
Alexander Drake