The Heman Sweatt Symposium on Civil Rights at the University of Texas at Austin started in 1987 as a way to address racial issues facing African-Americans in the community and legal system. Each year brings a new topic and new guest speaker, including Rev. Jesse Jackson, attorney Johnnie Cochran, and poet Nikki Giovanni.
The event is named after Heman Sweatt, the first African American admitted into the UT Law School. After applying to the University of Texas Law School in 1946 and having been denied admission on the basis of race, Mr. Sweatt and the NAACP sued the University in the landmark case, Sweatt vs. Painter. In 1950, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that separate law school facilities could not provide a legal education equal to that available at UT, making the case one of the first to challenge the “separate but equal” doctrine.
Videocassettes, audiocassettes, and 7” audio reels compose the Heman Sweatt Symposium on Civil Rights Collection. Each symposium discusses topics relevant to today’s society, dealing primarily with the African-American culture as it is represented within the local community and the national and state legal systems.
1st – Inaugural Heman Sweatt Symposium on Civil Rights, April 9-10, 1987
3rd – The African-American Experience: The Paradox of Civil Rights, with guests William J. Wilson and Ray Marshall, March 30-31, 1989
4th - Multiculturalism: Different Cultures Sharing Common Ground, with guests Dr. Samuel D. Proctor and Betty Sue Flowers, March 29-30, 1990
6th - A Sense of Origins – The African Global Presence, with guests Joseph E. Harris, Howard Dodson, Jr., Olly Wilson, and Deborah L. Mack, April 2-3, 1992
7th - Beyond Kente: A Cultural Continuum from Ghana to Texas, with guests: Kofi Awoonor, Randall Robinson, and The Ghana National Dance Ensemble, March 24-25, 1993
9th - Civil Rights Revisited, with guest Rev. Jesse Jackson, April 19, 1995
10th - A Celebration of African American Music: Songs from the Soul in the Struggle for Justice, with guest Barbara Conrad, April 26, 1996
12th - From Sweatt to Hopwood to Success: Solutions for Creating a Diverse University, with guest Wilhelmina Delco, April 16-17, 1998
13th - The Role of Art and Artists in the Struggle A Retrospective Look at Civil Rights in the 20th Century, with guest Nikki Giovanni, April 12-16, 1999
Heman Sweatt Symposium on Civil Rights Collection, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.