The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 95, July 1991 - April, 1992 Page: 31
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Steadfast zn Hzs Intent
attorney, informed him that his credit in physics from Prairie View
would be disallowed because it was an inferior school. Hargis agreed
but pointed out that it had not been his choice to go there; he was virtu-
ally exiled. When he remained adamant, Wilson conceded the point
and allowed him to transfer the credit."'
Hargis, by enrolling in the summer of 1955 despite the regents'
pledge to maintain segregation until the fall of 1956, breached the bar-
rier against black undergraduates before the university could prepare
itself. Because no policy to govern integration had been adopted, the
first year proved especially unpleasant for Hargis and other blacks at-
tending the university. They suffered not only from the actions of sev-
eral recalcitrant faculty toward blacks, for which there was no official
recourse, but also from the passive ostracism of many students. Hargis
later recalled that he believed that he could not afford to relax his
guard. Two black veterans who had attended Prairie View enrolled
with Hargis in June 1955: David Wallace and Herman C. Smith, one of
the six freshmen who had been rejected in September 1954. The ten-
sion proved too much, and both of them withdrew before the end of
that summer. Haywood and Norwood joined Hargis in September
1955, but only the former earned his degree. Norwood suffered a ner-
vous breakdown after one year and withdrew.2'
The tension within the University of Texas mirrored that in the state
as a whole. Desegregation of public education in Texas stalled after
1956 as a conservative backlash swept the South. The "Southern Mani-
festo," which declared the May 1954 decision by the Supreme Court to
be a "clear abuse of judicial power," was signed by ninety-six southern
congressmen and senators in March 1956. Included in this group were
four representatives and Senator Price Daniel from Texas, who had
represented the University of Texas against Sweatt and succeeded
Shivers as governor in 1957. A majority of the Texas legislature-
which convened January 8, 1957, for the first time since the May 1955
Supreme Court hearing-endorsed several bills to stall desegregation.
They circumvented the earlier Texas Supreme Court decision by deny-
"0 For a synopsis of the impact of litigation on the black plaintiffs, see Reed Sarratt, The Ordeal
of Desegregation The Fzrst Decade (New York I larper and Row Publishlng Co , 1966), 126-127.
In his interview with this author on June 20, 1985, John W Hargis recounted not only his
decision to enter the University of Texas and his confrontation with Wilson, but also a serio-
comic sequel In 1985, the two found themselves sitting next to each other at a commencement
exercise. They spoke afterwards about their first encounter, including their argument over the
credit foi physics Hargis laughed while recalling how Wilson told him that he knew nothing
about physics and had tried to tell him that thirty years earlier, but he was so intent upon being
admitted that he would not listen.
21McCown to Wilson, July 6, 1955, General Files, "Desegregation" (UTCOR), Hargis to
R B. M., June 20, 1985, interview, 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/m1/59/?q=yaqui: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.