You’re reading a story from Sidelines 100, a project showcasing a century of student storytelling at Middle Tennessee State University. Sidelines 100 plans to highlight 100 stories from the newspaper archives this fall and spring.
This story originally ran in the Feb 15, 2012, edition of Sidelines. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay on top of all things Sidelines 100.
To celebrate the life and culture of black students and faculty, MTSU is memorializing the lives of people and events that occurred at the university.
MTSU participated heavily in the Civil Rights movement during the 1960s as different protests and other forms of expression were held on campus to promote equality.
According to President Sidney McPhee, the second president of color at the university, the campus fully integrated in the late 1970s and early 1980s.”
I have spoken to a lot of folks who lived during that time, such as the first black faculty member, Mary Scales;’ McPhee said. “Our community struggled with the acceptance of people of color in the system. However, that is just a part of our history.”
Suma Clark, author of the centennial book Traditions of Excellence, studied at MTSU during the time the campus was integrating.
“I was an older student at the time” Clark said. “I do remember football games especially had to be hard on black students. ‘Dixie’ was the fight song, and we had Nathan Bedford Forest representing the Blue Raider at the time. I think as a student body,: we were probably very insensitive how this came across and how threatening it seemed.”
Clark watched a lot of the “firsts” happen at the university during the 1970s and 1980s and witnessed an uglier side of integration.
More firsts followed in the late 1980s into the early 1990s, as James E. Walker became the first black president at the university.
A monumental campus event was the taking down of the Nathan Bedford Forest seal on the Keathley University Center. Forest is known for being a main leader of the Klu Klux Klan, an extremist white-supremacy group. Forest was used as a promotional figure for the university in” the 1950s and appeared on pamphlets and promotional materials.
Vincent Windrow, the first president of the campus NAACP chapter, said he remembers speaking at the,rally hosted in campus in protest of the Forest seal on the KUC. He spoke with the Sam Ingram, who was university president at the time, about removing the seal from campus.
“We had a huge crowd the night that we had the rally in protest of the seal:’ Windrow said. “I wrote an opinion column in Sidelines protesting the seal in the fall semester of 1990, and the spring semester of 1991 the seal was taken down.”
Windrow is currently the director of Intercultural and Diversity Affairs on campus, and is helping with some of the Black History Month events.
Among some of the events this month on campus are the.16″ annual Unity Luncheon and the Ladies’ Night Out with attorney Phillis Rambsy.
Both events were sponsored by the Black History Month Committee along with the Intercultural and Diversity Affairs Center and the Scholars Academy.
One of the other upcoming events is the “Sista, You “‘ Rock!” event that takes place Feb. 20 in the Tom Jackson Building at 7:00 PM.
“Sista, You Rock!” is styled as an award show to honor and celebrate students and administrators of color who have made strides to better the university.
“We present awards to different students:’ said Jessica Hampton, a senior majoring in marketing. “We also offer a scholarship worth $1,000. We have done several promotions inside the KUC. All you have to do is say why you rock and describe all the activities and organizations you are involved in and how you are an asset to this campus.”
Applications are available in the KUC, and a panel of.judges reviews the admissions. The event is a spin-off from Black Girls Rock, an empowerment organization for women of color.
In addition to the “Sista, You Rock!:’ “Uniquely You * with Dr. Ravi Perry” will be held Feb. 23 in the State Farm Room in the Business and Aerospace Building.
At the end of February, the Centennial Celebration Pioneer Summit is being held in the Tom Jackson Building at 6 p.m. The event encompasses some of the first black faculty and students on campus and how they reacted to the struggles and pushed through social barriers.
Potential speakers for this event include Mary Scales, the first faculty member, and Mike McDonald, the first student body president of color.
“The speakers to this special event are going to.people that were trailblazers for the African- .American community at this school;’ Windrow said. “The honoree list for the presentation has not been verified yet.”
To conclude the monthlong celebration of black history, speaker Jesse Jackson Jr. will visit April 6 in the BAS State Farm Room. Jackson is a politician, author and social justice advocate.
“The trend is to spread out our program throughout the year:’ Windrow said. “However, we concentrate most of our events in the month of February.”
As the campus has grown over the past century, the university has gained more black students to the enrollment.’According to McPhee, black students make up 12 percent of the 26,000 students. McPhee said he hoped to see greater integration and diversity among social settings on campus in the future.
“We need to teach people to cross boundaries to open up the circle because that is how you learn other people’s culture and better appreciate and understand:’ McPhee said. “It’s more of what a person has in his or heart that matters. You don’t have to be black or white to understand or appreciate and be sensitive of a person’s struggle.”
To contact the Sideline 100 editor, email sidelines100@mtsusidelines.com.
For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, and follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines and on X and Instagram at @mtsusidelines. Also, sign up for our weekly newsletter here.
