East Texas State's Rough Integration

Old South Week was a national tradition on American college campuses in the first-half of the twentieth century and following World War II. The festivities were frequently organized by the members of the Kappa Alpha Fraternity Incorporated. The Gamma Upsilon chapter of Kappa Alpha at East Texas State University hosted their Old South Week celebrations every March on their campus in Commerce for over two decades. The event was held to honor Confederate General Robert E. Lee as the spiritual founder of the fraternity, remind members of the importance of brotherhood, and reinforce “an image of gentlemen ways in the South.” Texas State University’s Kappa Alpha brother Joshua Hughes once recalled the significance in studying and appreciating the South’s unique heritage: “For Kappa Alpha members, Lee’s teaching is a blueprint for us to follow and strive to achieve in one’s personal life.”

James G. Gee was president of the college (later university between 1947 and 1966). Historians have labeled Gee as the "Great Builder" since he significantly increased the size of the physical plant and student body. He was a former staff officer during WWII.

In the 1950s and 1960s, East Texas State University’s Old South Week was very popular among male and female students, young and old townsfolk from Commerce, and even school administrators—ETSU’s President James G. Gee happily partook in the events and was often seen parading around the campus in a Confederate officers outfit while waving a Dixie flag. It should be noted that a majority of the participants were white (since the university did not integrate until the mid-1960s and the event’s purpose of reinforcing old Southern values did not simmer well among the colored population in Commerce, for obvious reasons). The week’s festivities at ETSU included a hay ride for mesmerized children, wiener roast for hungry patrons, special presentations by the beautiful Southern Belles, a Mint Julep party, and the popular Old South Banquet (which exhausted the event’s cooks every year). Also, the community enjoyed watching a colorful ‘Stars and Bars’ parade in front of Binnion Hall, which featured fraternity brothers and other students dressed in either war clothing, Antebellum dresses, or slave clothes, and singing rebel chants and waving Confederate flags. This would be followed by a mock slave auction in which pre-picked fraternity rushes put on blackface and played the part of chattels. Since there was much excitement during Old South Week among the student body and outside community, it is little surprise ETSU’s administration allowed Kappa Alpha to continue hosting the racially-demeaning events through to the early 1970s.

Old South Week participants in costume congregate in front of Binnion Hall, then a residence hall for females (1965).

On June 19, 1964, President Gee reluctantly permitted black students to enroll at the college, after refusing to admit them in previous years (ETSU and Sam Houston State in Huntsville were the final two public colleges in Texas to integrate). The president wrote a letter to Register John S. Windell on this day explaining the procedure: "You are further advised that the aforesaid integration with respect to members of the Negro race is applicable to instructional or academic programs of the college, and also to other activities sponsored, supervised and otherwise under the control of this college." Thus, the history of the institution's student body significantly changed.

Old South Week participants in costume pose in front of a cannon and the Dixie flag (1965).

Following ETSU’s integration in the mid-1960s and the sequential influx of African American students enrolling in classes at the institution (including Velma K. Waters and Charles Garvin), the Old South Week festivities that were once supported by a majority now created much controversary. In 1973, a group of black ETSU students interrupted the events following a Southern Belles presentation and insisted the fraternity remove Confederate-inspired decorations from the windows of five sorority houses—the trimmings were up since a house-decorating contest was part of that year’s program. After that decisive moment, ETSU’s black student population challenged the long-standing status quo for the remainder of the spring semester, and continuously wrote to the administration requesting the deans and university president to eliminate Old South Week festivities on campus. Derryle Peace, director of ETSU’s Alumni Relations, regarded the provocation as, “The black Americans’ moment to approach an insensitive event in a respectable manner, explaining to the Dean of Students that we are choosing to not view such ridicule, and they must step into actions.” The African American Student Society for East Texas (AASSET), a student-led progressive organization that was established following the campus’s integration, actively engaged in campus politics and consistently fought hard to ensure that black presence at ETSU was noticed by the school’s white directors.

Despite the controversary surrounding the Old South Week festivities, East Texas State permitted African Americans to enroll, starting in 1964.

Peace would later recall that, “With AASSET support, there were an estimated 80 members who belonged to Alpha Phi Alpha and Omega Psi Phi and the first Dean of Minority Students, Ivory Moore contributing to the movement.” This movement of logical reasons shortly attracted the attention and support from ETSU faculty and staff. African American historian and student advisor Dr. Richard Buchard endorsed the black students’ cause and later held a strained meeting between a spokesman for the black fraternities and the Kappa Alpha president. By the end of 1973, ETSU President Frank Henderson ‘Bub’ McDowell finally put his presidential powers to use and created a compromise between the two factions. The overdue understanding eliminated Old South Week activities on campus, however, permitted the Kappa Alpha fraternity to continue their annual Confederate festivities off campus, as long as they abided by the City of Commerce public regulations. Despite grumbling from the fraternity and some of the student body, the Confederate flag and its well-established, yet degrading values ceased to publicly exist on the ETSU campus after 1973. It is worth noting that the president was in a difficult political position at that time, and since he wanted to appease the university’s Board and a majority of the student body, McDowell approached the sensitive situation with care and made a deliberate decision in a sensible manner (this event was following the unexpected suicide of former ETSU First Lady Pat Halladay and sudden resignation of former ETSU President D. Whitney Halladay, both in 1972).

Ivory Moore was an administrator and later the dean of minority affairs at the institution between 1978 and 1984. He championed black students' opposition to the Old South Week events. Moore would later be the first black man elected to the Commerce City Council, proudly serving the city for 18 years (including 2 years as mayor).

The ETSU Kappa Alpha off-campus parade was discontinued in the late 1980s and the remaining Confederate-inspired events of Old South Week disappeared in due time. Although the Old South Week festivities are moments fixed in time which historians and admirers of ETSU’s past, including myself, do not like talking or writing about, it is important to not deny this piece of context in the broader story of Professor William L. Mayo’s college. The festivities played a large role in creating a culture at the university that was, for a long period, toxic to minorities and outsiders; fortunately, due to the peaceful and persistent, just resistance from a brave group of African American students in the early 1970s, the ETSU administration matured with the times and eliminated the tools of white supremacism on campus, as well as gave voice to those whose ancestors were once shamefully ridiculed for having a different skin color. The administration fostered a more-inclusive community of students. We must never forget to continue the much-needed discussions on remembering where we came from, why we did what we did (were the results positive or negative?), and what we can do as a society to right the wrongs of the past, and love each other equally.

Frank Henderson 'Bub' McDowell was the university president between 1972 and 1982. He previously served in a variety of administrative roles in the Whitley, Ferguson, Gee, and Halladay administrations. McDowell was the first (and only) alumnus to be selected as ETSU president. He attended the college in the 1930s, where he was a award-winning football player.

*I used the 1972 and 1973 Locust Yearbooks on information about Old South Week.*