Overview
TCU has a well-known magazine titled “The Skiff”. In 1968, a group of students created a supplemental magazine titled WAKE in an effort to talk about broader issues in the TCU community. Only one edition came out in May of 1968. In focusing on this magazine, one can gain a deeper understanding of the history of women of color at TCU. As a magazine that was seen as being progressive for its time, WAKE offers an opportunity to look into TCU’s past and assess its lasting effects on the university today.
The title WAKE is an interesting title and is representative of the “Awakening” period that America claimed to be in during the 1960s. With the Civil Rights Act being signed in 1965 and its policies being incorporated into 1967 and ’68, this publication was likely in response to the changes that were being seen. Alongside the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Liberation movement and the Vietnam War were creating a tumultuous social and political environment where protests, sit-ins, marches, and beyond were occurring throughout the country and especially among young people, often on college campuses. This magazine shines a light on those events and their effects from the perspective of white students at a predominantly white institution.
Rhetoric
I would like to begin with the rhetoric used in the magazine. Looking at it now in 2019, it is highly problematic. We must place it in its historical context and recognize that words like “Negro” were the accepted terms in 1968. In fact, in the article I will be focusing on later, the subject Ivory Dansby recalls a professor who would only refer to her, a black student, as a “Negra.” She said it was as though he did not want to say Negro because he wanted to continue using the N word. Dansby felt understandably disrespected by this and desired to be referred to as a Negro. Be it as it may, knowing that “negro” was the accepted term did not stop me from cringing each time I read it.
The headings of the articles were of interest to me as well. “Are TCU Students With It?”, “An ‘Awakening’, If Not Revolution”, and “Sex, Religion, and Heroes” are some examples of the articles that can be found in WAKE. I was impressed by the willingness of students to discuss these controversial topics in a public setting. Reading through the titles allowed me to ponder what this magazine would look like today and what would be discussed. For starters, it might be called WOKE instead WAKE. I found it interesting that 51 years later, there still seems to be an “awakening” needing to occur in individual people, deeming them “woke” or not. Because of the political climate, this time was a time to be outspoken on controversial issues because they were at the forefront of America’s mind. Today, I imagine there would be hesitation publishing a newspaper which discusses controversial topics, especially when they go against the majority’s thought processes. I do not believe this to be because people would be too afraid to publish it, but rather the hesitation would come from learned experiences. Throughout the years students have spoken out about their rights, written lists of demands, and been reprimanded for it. When a person sees a white student body, a white administration, a white board of trustees who continually shoots her down, it becomes difficult to believe these entities would care to do anything to make a change.
For women of color, what could be referred to as learned helplessness is especially felt. Having multiple identities which get silenced by the masses takes a toll. Students of color at TCU are strong in the face of their oppression, but often have to decide between taking a stand and facing unearned consequences, or fighting the smaller fights in daily life.
"On Breaking the Negro Cycle"
The article which I would like to focus on is titled “On Breaking the Negro Cycle”. This article was written by a white student and focuses primarily on the experiences of one black student, Ivory Dansby. The article starts with the claim, “color barriers came down officially at TCU in 1964.” It goes on to explain how white students and black students eat together, live together, learn together, and *gasp* sometimes date! It is remarkable to me to see how progressive this was to these students. What is even more remarkable is that this is what they thought it took to bring the color barriers down. 51 years later, there is still a stark division of students at TCU based on ethnicity, so to claim that this ended “officially” in 1965 shows the assumption that many make: that when a Civil Rights Act is passed or schools become integrated or we have a Black president, America is suddenly a post-racial place where anyone can achieve the American Dream.
Ivory Dansby, the subject of the article was a Black student originally from Arkansas and a transfer student from Jarvis Christian College, a historically black institution. She claims that she was not learning anything at JCC and that now that she was at TCU, she could achieve her goals. I stopped here to ponder why she felt she was not learning anything at JCC, a school where she was learning from and next to other students of color. A problem with the education system in the US is that it teaches white history, so I have to wonder if her education at JCC was white-washed and therefore she struggled to find a connection to it.
Dansby has a positive outlook towards TCU, discussing how she has never been “overtly discriminated against” and that white people were beginning to see that black people “weren’t so different.” Later in the article, though, she talks about how her hall director would call her “her favorite colored girl” and often say she was going to have her clean her windows at her house. Clearly there was a misunderstanding of what discrimination was. We can see intersectionality at work as Dansby's identities of being a black female are causing her hall director to single her out and ask this of her. Please note that at the time this article was written, less than 1% of the student body were black students. Somehow that constituted integration.
Today's Implications
Going back to Jarvis Christian College, when I read ‘Jarvis’, I was reminded of Jarvis Hall on TCU’s campus. As it turns out, both were named after James Jones Jarvis, a wealthy lawyer and businessman. JCC was founded by the Christian Woman’s Board of Missions with a lump of cash from the Jarvis family on the condition that it educate the “head, heart, and hand” of its students and produce “useful citizens and earnest Christians.” Jarvis’ connection to the TCU community lies in the fact that he was the founder and first chairman of the Board of Trustees. He donated enough resources to have a building named after him. Interestingly, Jarvis Hall is now the designated space for students of color at TCU.
Thinking about this article as well as the magazine as a whole, I cannot help but think about the lack of change that has occurred in the 51 years since the magazine was made. While we may not refer to them as "color barriers" anymore, there is a clear separation present on campus between white students and students of color. From what majors students of color are filtered into and the treatment received by professors to what activities students are encouraged and allowed to participate in, there is a division that is extant. White people still date white people, Panhellenic Greek organizations still opt for white girls, white professors still favor white students. It is a shame that in 51 years, the population of black students may have increased to 5% (which is not that remarkable) and we may have changed the rhetoric we use, but "color barriers" did not fall in 1965 and still have not continued to do so.