Research Guides: African American Studies Archival Collections: SMU History

Recommended Resources

Voices of SMU Project: Black History at SMU
DeGolyer Library has been collecting oral histories from SMU alumni from underrepresented groups since 2018. The interviews document not only the history of the university, but Texas as well, including the desegregation of higher education, the experiences of African American and Latinx university students, and Black and Brown student activism in Texas.

Campus History

"And So We Moved Quietly": Southern Methodist University and Desegregation, 1950-1970
A dissertation covering the first twenty years of integrating the student body at SMU. Available online through the University of Arkansas.
Collection on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s visit to SMU, 1965-2014
Includes newspaper clippings, a transcript of the speech, letters, magazines, and an oral history interview. These sources cover the March on Selma in 1965, the MLK speech at SMU in 1966, and Dr. King’s death in 1968.

Integration at the Perkins School of Theology

These online resources document the history of integration of the Perkins School of Theology during the 1950s.

Announcement of the March 9, 1965 SMU Prayer Service Supporting Selma Marchers.
The Perkins School of Theology asked its students to support the marchers at Selma through prayer.

Hard Trials, Great Tribulations by James V. Lyles
Publication Date: 2014
Memoir written by one of the first five African American theology students at SMU.
Black Seminarians at Perkins: Then and Now by Harry S. Wright
Publication Date: 1994
Written by a Black minister who completed his Master's degree in Theology at SMU and later was the Director of Admissions for Perkins.
Perkins Led the Way: The Story of Desegregation at Southern Methodist University by Merrimon Cuninggim
Publication Date: 1994
A book written by the dean of Perkins during the 1950s.
A History of the Perkins School of Theology by Lewis Howard Grimes
Publication Date: 1993
Includes chapters on integration in the 1950s and other minorities in the 1960s and 70s.

The Shadows of Segregation: The Integration of Perkins School of Theology in the Civil Rights Era.
Article written by Kevin M. Watson in 2013 for Methodist History.
Breaking the Color Bar at SMU
Article written by William R. Simon in 2012 for Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas.

Images and Objects

Bridwell Library has many photographs of and documents about Black students and professors from the Perkins School of Theology. The links below are a small representation of such objects; contact Bridwell Library for more information.

Photograph of Zan W. Holmes, Jr. at SMU with Albert Outler, Dean Joseph Quillian, and Bishop McFerrin Stowe.
Taken in 1974, possibly at a February 6 Ministers’ Week luncheon honoring the Outlers.
Celebration Program in honor of The Reverend A. Cecil Williams
Honored one of the first five Black seminarians on campus at SMU. From 1997.

Digital Exhibitions

The First African-American Graduates of Perkins School of Theology
This sixtieth-anniversary exhibition highlights the accomplishments of the first five African-American graduates of Perkins as distinguished church and community leaders.
Nathaniel Lacy, Jr.
Part of an exhibit on Perkins history, this page focuses on Rev. Nathaniel Lacy, Jr., the Perkins School of Theology’s first African American faculty member.

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Related Guides

SMU History

Administrative Collections

SMU Multicultural Student Affairs Records
Held at DeGolyer Library.
Southern Methodist University Student Activities Records, 1915-1990s
Includes information on Black student organizations.
Collection on Perkins School of Theology Student Organizations and Activities
Includes information on the Black Seminarians Association. Held at Bridwell Library.