The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 95, July 1991 - April, 1992 Page: 28
598 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Hzstorical Quarterly
The furor over the initial rejection of Ford had died down after his
admittance to the university in July, so Hargis was stunned when his
own admission was reversed in September, just one day before he was
to have registered for classes. Reflecting perhaps his political naivete,
Hargis, unlike Sweatt, did not turn to the NAACP for aid. Instead, he
enrolled at Prairie View along with Robert R. Norwood and Norcell D.
Haywood. Their absence from the university was not noticed by that
student body, which was preoccupied with protesting Ford's plight, but
the Austin blacks were resented by many of their classmates at Prairie
View. Because it was anticipated that the trio would be admitted to the
University of Texas, they were enrolled in upper division courses as
freshmen and received preferential treatment, such as eating in the
faculty cafeteria. During the spring of 1955, they shared a dormitory
room because no one else welcomed their company. In addition to his
personal discomfort, Hargis found that Prairie View offered few
courses in his field that he had not already taken at Morehouse. In Oc-
tober 1954 he asked to be admitted to the University of Texas for the
spring semester of 1955, but his request was denied."'
While at Prairie View, Hargis began to read more extensively on the
struggle to desegregate higher education. The progress of judicial inte-
gration offered little hope that his dilemma would be resolved. The sec-
ond hearing on desegregation was postponed from December 1954
until April 1955 because the Senate delayed its confirmation of John M.
Harlan, nominated to succeed Justice Robert H. Jackson who had died
in October 1954. Popular and official sentiment favored gradual inte-
gration supervised by the federal district courts. After President
Dwight D. Eisenhower endorsed that approach in November 1954, the
Justice Department, together with six southern states including Texas,
submitted amzcus curiae briefs in favor of such a policy. Texas Attorney
General John B. Sheppard described rapid desegregation as "rash, im-
prudent, and unrealistic" and added that a poll conducted by his office
revealed that seven out of ten Texans anticipated violence if segrega-
tion was abolished immediately. A survey of University of Texas stu-
dents also indicated that most of them wanted gradual integration. The
justices bowed to public opinion and on May 31, 1955, decided in favor
of gradual desegregation policed by the district courts. They required
"was based on region rather than race" because most of the white and Mexican children at-
tended Catholic schools, and he and other blacks, most of whom were Protestant, went to pub-
lic schools. A hfelong Methodist, he claimed that he briefly considered converting to Catholi-
cism so he could go to school with his friends of other races.
15Daly Texan (Austin), Sept. 16, 23, 1954; McCown to Hargis, Oct. 11, 1954, General Files,
"Desegregation" (UTCOR); Hargis to R. B. M., June 20o, 1985, interview; Norcell D. Haywood
to R. B. M., Apr 9, 1987, conversation.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 95, July 1991 - April, 1992, periodical, 1992; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117153/m1/56/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.