Huston-Tillotson University President Dr. Melva Wallace was sure she heard the wrong number. The Moody Foundation’s Senior Vice President of Grants, Elle Moody, was sitting in her office and had – seconds earlier – told Wallace they were gifting the historically Black university $130 million.
“There was just this blank stare on her face for a few minutes,” Moody joked. “I don’t think she could quite comprehend what we were saying.”
The donation, which later evolved into a $150 million gift, was not the first the Moody Foundation made to the east Austin school – but it was, by far, the largest. It was also the most any historically Black college or university in the United States ever received in a single donation.
“This has been one of the most inspiring gifts we’ve given in a really long time,” Moody said. “It really came from our trust in Dr. Wallace and her administration.”
The moment in Wallace’s office did not come totally out of left field. The Moody Foundation had spent six months brainstorming with Wallace, her staff, and students about the university’s grand plans for its next 150 years, including scholarships and new student housing that would bring commuting students back on campus.
“It was a Godsend. It was a Godsend,” Wallace said through tears. “To know that the plan that we spent a lot of time on, I mean a lot of time … it was validation that God hears, God sees, and God does.”
‘We can’t do this work alone’
HT’s Vice President of Institutional Advancement Linda Y. Jackson, considered one of many de facto HT historians on campus, said in the 150-year history of the school, there has always been an “ongoing initiative” to raise money — whether through the Freedman’s Aid Society, the decades-long investments from Texas philanthropists like the Moody Foundation, or donations as small as $1 from neighbors.
According to Jackson, Huston-Tillotson was one of the many benefactors of the Freedmen’s Aid Society — an agency within the Methodist Episcopal Church that worked to establish schools for Black people in the South after the Civil War.
A few years ago, Jackson said the university recovered a time capsule containing donation cards addressed to the university, ranging from 5 cents to a dollar. The time capsule was compiled in 1989 as a part of Dr. Janice Sumler-Edmond’s African American History class to demonstrate the high value that African Americans in Austin placed on education.
“Individuals would go around to the community and let members know the university, the college needed support,” Jackson said. “When someone gave one dollar — that was a lot of money.”
The names highlighted on each of the buildings on HT’s campus each carry a story of generosity that helped sustain the school at one time or another.
Anthony and Louise Viaer Alumni Hall (KXAN Photo/Richie Bowes)
The Anthony and Louise Viaer-Alumni Hall, the second-oldest building on campus, began construction between 1913 and 1914 as a result of a $10,000 donation to the school, according to Jackson. The outside cinder blocks were manufactured by HT students enrolled in industrial arts courses at the time. The building was named after Class of 1958 graduate, Dr. Anthony Viaer, who donated more than $3 million to the university over the years.
For more than 40 years, the alumni hall was boarded up and scheduled to be demolished. According to Jackson, the university was able to secure the funding from alumni, historical preservation grants with the City of Austin, the U.S. Department of Interior’s Economic Development Administration, Austin Convention Center and Visitor’s Bureau, The United Methodist Church Black College Fund, the Texas Historical Commission, and Alan Y. Taniguchi Architects and Associates, to restore the building.
The campus’s Jackson-Moody Fine Arts Complex was the result of a donation from former Huston-Tillotson Trustee Edward R. Jackson and monetary gifts from the Moody Foundation in 1968 and 1973.
“It was my great-grandparents and my great-great aunt who made the first donation,” Moody said. “Education was so important to them, and they saw the value of that for all the communities across the state.”
Jackson-Moody Building (The Huston-Tillotson University Archives)
The Moody Foundation continued to give to Huston-Tillotson for decades. In 2020, the foundation donated to HT for COVID-19 support. The foundation also gave again in 2024 when the university needed a new HVAC system in the Mary E. Branch Gymnasium.
Officials with the Moody Foundation said they will partner with the university over the next decade to bring their $150 million gift to life. Moody says the foundation hopes their historic gift will inspire others to contribute to HT’s vision.
“We hope that this is a call for action for more people to get involved,” Moody said. “I know [$150 million] sounds like a lot of money, but there is a lot more money that Huston-Tillotson needs to raise.”
The university will soon launch a capital campaign to raise more funds to accomplish its master plan.
“We can’t do this work alone. We did not do this work alone for 150 years and we truly need the support,” Wallace said.
