If You Don't Already Know Heman Sweatt's Name, It's Time to Learn It

This fall semester is my first time teaching college history. Incidentally, it also marks the 75th anniversary of the first time Black students were admitted into formerly segregated colleges and universities in this nation.

As a Black adjunct professor, one of my goals is to teach younger generations how long ago events impact the lives of real people. These aren’t just abstract narratives from our textbooks. Last week, for example, we studied the Reconstruction era and its bittersweet advances. To make this history personal, I asked my students to think of an ancestor, if known, and trace that person’s life through each passing decade. It has become a remarkable exercise in demonstrating how laws and policies shape not only society, but also people.

Our people.

Weeks ago, when the editors at The Barbed Wire asked me to write a piece about the landmark Sweatt v. Painter U.S. Supreme Court ruling — which in 1950 held that the University of Texas Law School must enroll Heman M. Sweatt and other Black students for the very first time, paving the way for the end of lawful segregation at all levels four years later — I didn’t realize how personal it would get.

Despite this regular exercise of showing my students how profoundly historical events have shaped each one of our lives, I worried this pivotal point in American history would be a challenge to do justice precisely because of its impact and complexity.

Then I started the research.


https://thebarbedwire.com/2025/09/19/sweatt-v-painter-75th-anniversary-desegregation/