April 25, 1961
Sophian runs student letter from the University of Texas
On April 25th, 1961, the Sophian published a Letter to the Editor from a group of University of Texas students. The U of T refused to publish the letter in their paper, The Daily Texan, because of their censorship policy. As a result, students reached out to other colleges, including Smith, asking for help. Their dilemma was that while Austin, Texas had been having relative success around integration, including the opening of many restaurants and the University of Texas to black people without violence, the theaters were still segregated. That decision was in the hands of ABC Paramount President Leonard Goldenson, who for over two years had been ignoring the hundreds of requests from Austin residents for integration. The students, who signed their names at the bottom of the letter, asked that people contact Goldenson to make their own formal requests for integration, and to donate money to the Students for Direct Action (SDA), to finance a campaign against the segregationist policy in The New York Times.
[Last updated on October 28, 2018]