Texas Southern University is one of the largest historically black universities in the USA. Located in Houston, Texas, the university was established on March 3, 1947 by the Texas Legislature and it was initially named Texas State University for Negroes. Prior becoming a state university, Texas Southern University was owned by the Houston Independent School District (HISD) and had been known as Houston College for Negroes.

Texas Southern University's school colors are maroon and gray and the school nickname is the Tigers. Texas Southern sports teams participate in NCAA Division I-A (I-AA for football) in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).

In February 1946, Heman Marion Sweatt, an African American man, applied to The University of Texas School of Law. He was denied admission because of his race, and subsequently filed suit. (See Sweatt v. Painter.) At the time, there was no “separate but equal” law school for African Americans, and the Texas trial court, instead of granting Sweatt a writ of mandamus, continued the case for six months allowing the state time to create a law school only for blacks. As a result, Texas Southern University was established under Senate Bill 140 by the Fiftieth Texas Legislature on March 3, 1947 as a state university to be located in Houston. Originally named Texas State University for Negroes, the school was established to serve African Americans in Texas and offer them fields of study comparable to that available to white Texans. The state took over the HISD-run Houston College for Negroes as a basis for the new university. At the time, Houston College had one permanent building, but, more importantly, an existing faculty, and students. The school was charged with teaching "pharmacy, dentistry, arts and sciences, journalism education, literature, law, medicine, and other professional courses," and further stipulated that "these courses shall be equivalent to those offered at other institutions of this type supported by the State of Texas."

Website: http://www.tsu.edu

School Legends

1. Jim Hines