RUDDER PLAZA

Eleven stories high, Rudder Tower stands tall in the heart of Texas A&M’s campus. Before the tower and theater complex were constructed, an auditorium called Guion Hall stood on the same site from 1918 to 1971, serving as an early hub for Aggie entertainment. The structure was named for Judge John I. Guion, the president of A&M’s board of directors from 1914 to 1918.

Following Guion Hall’s demolition in 1971, construction on Rudder Tower began and was completed in 1974. The building is named for Gen. James Earl Rudder, Class of 1932, who went on to become one of the university’s most famous presidents. Rudder led A&M from 1959 until his death in 1970. Just a short walk away from the tower, at the foot of the steps to the theater complex, a bronze statue of Rudder stands, facing north down military walk.

 

Brown vs Board of Education initiated mandatory desegregation for state institutions. Texas A&M University, under the direction of Earl Rudder, took 6 years to implement. While the student governance board voted to desegregate, the student body voted to remain segregated.

 

Several “firsts” occurred from 1962-1980, including the first Black student, full professor, etc.

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1887: First Hispanic Students Enroll At Texas A&M 

José Angel Ortís, Class of 1891, the earliest known Hispanic graduate of Texas A&M, graduates with a degree in civil engineering. He entered Texas A&M in 1887, taking courses in mechanical engineering through his junior year. It appears that he did not attend school during the 1890–91 school year but returned in the fall of 1891 to complete his degree (Texas A&M Hispanic Network, n.d).

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1913: First Chinese Student Enroll at Texas A&M

Mu Xiang-yue (H.Y. Moh), who came to Texas A&M University in 1913 for a master’s degree, is the first known Chinese student in the university. He returned to Shanghai to become a cotton manufacturer (History of Diversity and Inclusion at Texas A&M).

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1922: First Japanese Students Enroll At Texas A&M 

Taro Kishi enrolled at A&M in 1922 and graduated in 1926 with a degree in agriculture and went back to the rice fields near Vidor.  But his family lost the farm during the Depression, and became entirely dependent on Taro.  He went to work for a Japanese shipping firm in New York, faithfully sending money home to support his parents (Taro at Texas A&M, n.d).

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1963: First Black Students Enroll At Texas A&M

By 1963, a year before the Civil Rights Act, three Black students quietly enrolled in a summer session as “special students,” becoming the first to attend Texas A&M. Among them was Leroy Sterling, who took classes during two summer session before going on to graduate from Texas Southern University and earn a master’s degree in French and English from the University of Houston.

Sterling, who was from Bryan, served in the Army and enrolled at Texas Southern University prior to taking summer classes at Texas A&M. He first received a rejection letter, but learned a few weeks later that the university would accept him. Sterling taught at Texas Southern University for five years before working for Dow Chemical Company for 17 years. He continued his teaching career at Alabama A&M University (Texas A&M Today, n.d).

 

1968: First Black Undergrads Earn Degrees

James L. Courtney and Leon J. Greene graduated in January 1968, becoming the first African-American undergraduate students to earn a degree.After graduation, McDonald became Bastrop County’s first Black judge, and in 1998 at age 27, the youngest county judge in Texas history. He served for 14 years. He returned to Texas A&M in 2013 to serve in the role of executive director of community relations and strategic partnerships for Texas A&M AgriLife. He now serves the Texas Rural Leadership Program as its executive director (Texas A&M Today, n.d).

 

Questions

1. Do you have members of your family who were the first? What was it like for them? How did it impact your family’s legacy? 

2. What are you the first in your family or community to do?

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Interesting Facts

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