Book explores complicated history of Austin’s oldest HBCU, Huston-Tillotson

A sociologist and licensed social worker, she recently wrote “Their Stories, Our Stories: Four Presidents of Huston-Tillotson University” (Texas Tech University Press). Minutely researched and ultimately uplifting, it is not always flattering to the principal characters.

The book offers candid, insider accounts of the tenures of four Huston-Tillotson University presidents — John Q. Taylor King Sr., Joseph T. McMillan Jr., Larry Earvin, and Colette Pierce Burnette — all of whom served during Martin’s 50-year teaching career at the historically Black institution. (Tillotson College was established in 1875; Samuel Huston College in 1877. They merged in 1952.)

Martin includes a short, illuminating chapter on the early history of the colleges, both founded by Protestant denominations, that became HT, the oldest institution of higher learning in Austin. Then she details the characters and performances of each leader. At times, it feels as if Martin saved every official memo from the 1960s onward.

Her training in the social sciences serves her well. She carefully lays out each argument and supports her cases through written documentation, personal interviews, and especially, surveys of students, faculty, staff and alumni.

After reading the book earlier this year, I met Martin at Brentwood Social, a coffee shop and café. She spoke carefully but freely. The following interview, edited for length and clarity, evolved out of that conversation.

American-Statesman: How does it feel leaving HT after teaching there for so long?

Rosalee Martin: It’s hard to believe that I taught at HT for 50 years, or a little less than two-thirds of my life. That’s longer than any professor in HT’s history; that makes me a living legend, doesn’t it? My greatest take away is that when God calls you to do something, he prepares you for the task.

By this I mean teaching was never my goal. My master’s degree was in social work. I planned on building a career in working with individuals, families and communities to improve their quality of life by addressing personal, social and environmental challenges.

In 1973, I was a social worker supervisor at a residential treatment center when I received a invitation from HT’s head of the Social Sciences Division to teach sociology. I accepted this invitation as God’s calling on my life. I started teaching at HT with no teaching experience, but with excellent interpersonal skills, the exact skills I needed to become a successful teacher, mentor, counselor and administrator.

Having taught amazing individuals, most of whom became leaders and visionary problem-solvers themselves, gave me great joy, pride and satisfaction. To pour into their lives was a gift that kept on giving, mutually. I did what I love doing with each passing year. Even when there was drama and administrative crisis, I didn’t think about retiring until my 48th year, during COVID-19.

I believed in the mission of HT and in its ability to create generational power, wealth and hope in their students. I am so proud that a daughter and a grandson graduated from HT, in 1992 and 2025 respectively.

Tell us a little more about the school’s past.

The institution of slavery systematically deprived slaves of receiving formal education. When slavery ended, former slaves had a thirst to learn since freedom meant they could theoretically get formal education. During the Reconstruction Era, 1865-77, some white religious leaders felt compelled to educate former slaves, but not in white educational institutions.

The Rev. George Jeffrey Tillotson of Connecticut had the vision to establish a “Negro” school for women to educate “their kind.” Under the umbrella of the American Missionary Association, Tillotson moved to Austin and established Tillotson Collegiate and Normal School in 1875. Tillotson had an (early) woman president, Mary Branch, 1930-1944. HT’s gym is named after her.

The Rev. George Warren Richardson, from a white abolitionist family, established a “Negro” school in Dallas which was burned down by racists. In 1876, he rebuilt the school in Austin in what is now Wesley United Methodist Church. Land was purchased in 1887 by Samuel Huston and the school was renamed for him.

The histories of Tillotson College and Samuel Huston College were parallel in their curricula, majors offered, mission and moral values. Both had financial difficulties, and in 1952 agreed to merge as Huston-Tillotson College, under the motto “In Union Strength.”

Few know that in 1985, under the recommendation of the United Methodist general board of trustees of higher education, an HT founder and funder, President King recommended that HT merge with Texas College and Wiley College (two East Texas HBCUs). King stated that “merger is never easy! Everyone has to give up something in a merger, however, it is far better to merge in history than to die in history.”  The recommendation was that the two colleges would move to HT’s campus. The boards of trustees of Texas College and Wiley, however, voted down the recommendation.

What were the strengths of charismatic President John Q. Taylor King Sr.?

Born in 1921, King went to segregated schools, served in segregated platoons, and experienced the harshness of segregation, though his complexion made it possible to “pass” as non-Black. King recalled when he was assigned to an all-white unit he was received as one of foreign extract. The commander wanted to call him “colored,” but King insisted on being called “Negro,” as his grandmother told him never to “pass.” These experiences helped him to lead HT during the Civil Rights era, often writing about the human condition as well as societal obligations to the vulnerable and disenfranchised.

King began his presidency at age 44, in 1965, right after the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin by federal and state governments, and in public places. Following this, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 gave voting rights for all Americans, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act, prohibited discrimination in housing based on race, religion, national origin and sex.

Having laws didn’t mean immediate implementation.

Consequently, athletes traveling to different cities and states were often denied access to hotels and had to stay in community homes. When campus was closed, some HT students found homes away from home in King’s as well as faculty and staff’s houses. This was especially true for foreign students, as there were times when they were 33% of HT’s student population.

I was hired during King’s administration and received my doctorate from UT under his presidency. One of his strengths was he believed in a highly educated faculty. He supported educational and training opportunities.  He recalled his own education in segregated schools where his teachers were invested in him becoming a trained intellectual; he wanted the same for HT students.

His commitment to HT was clearly seen in his putting up the family home as collateral to secure a loan to pay salaries, as reported by two of his children. HT alumni mainly have warm feelings about King’s HT, attributing to him their professional success.

Your profile of President Joseph T. McMillan Jr. is less flattering

President McMillan said he loved HT in his inaugural address and in his farewell speech. I believed he truly loved HT.

However, his 12 years were riddled with conflicts and leadership ineptness. The book contains (extensive) documentation of this fact, including newspaper articles.

Articles appeared in two Black newspapers — Nokoa and The Villager — and the Austin-American Statesman. Among the stories: “A Second Class Institution,” “Whoops,” “If You Love Our College, Don’t Stand Back and Watch,” “The Truth Lies within the Administration (Pun Well Intended),” “Breaking the Silence,” and “HT No Time for Nostalgia: Growing Pains for Huston-Tillotson.”

Although crisis existed throughout his administration, there were no public spill-outs between 1993 and 1998. In 1999, McMillan made some horrific decisions that could have caused HT to lose its accreditation.

Three faculty members decided it was time ask the board for his removal. We organized an underground group named “Save HT” and took our concerns to the newspapers as was done in 1992.

I wrote an article for the Nokoa newspaper with the headline “HT Rebellion.” An American-Statesman reporter wrote an investigative article, “Huston-Tillotson Crisis of Confidence: Fight Against President Divides the Campus.”

During 1999, HT was in the middle of reaccreditation and received a warning because McMillan did not prioritize HT’s required self-study.

Without board support to remove McMillan, the Save HT committee persisted by presenting to the board a detailed document highlighting the deficits of McMillan’s administration, along with case studies and financial discrepancies. Within three months of non-stop intervention, the Save HT committee finally met with HT’s board president. McMillan then announced his retirement, effective in six months.

What was the next president, Larry Earvin, like?

Earvin came to HT from an HBCU, Clark-Atlanta, as dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. He had a 26-year tenure there. His presidency started under a personal cloud — the loss of his wife — and the shadow of McMillan.

Earvin’s greatest contribution was getting HT reaccredited with no recommendations, but not without HT first being placed on probation. After much back and forth, HT was reaccredited.

Earvin made numerous contributions to HT, including changing its name from a college to a university. In partnership with the city of Austin and the University of Texas, the Sandra Joy Anderson Community Health & Wellness Center was established on HT’s campus, when an HT alumna, Ada Anderson, gave the first $3 million.

The old administrative building built with stones cut by HT students in their industrial classes was condemned; neither King nor McMillan had raised funds for renovation. Earvin did and it’s now a National Historic Landmark.

He had other notable accomplishments, but his frequent absences from the campus negated his getting the credit for all of them. Many students didn’t know who the president was, or indicated that they only saw him on special occasions. He would leave the university in the hands of his executive VP, who told me that he functioned as the acting president on many occasions; but hastily added that Earvin knew everything that was happening on campus.

Earvin was a top-down administrator, not supportive of a faculty senate — as was the case with McMillan — and did not have an open-door policy as the two previous presidents did. Earvin was aware of the sentiment regarding his absenteeism and responded by writing a letter to the community explaining why he was gone so often; primarily to raise money for institutional programs and scholarships.

Please describe the tenure of the following president, Colette Pierce Burnette

Burnette was the first female president of the merged Huston-Tillotson, and the second one in HT’s history; Mary Branch was her predecessor and her role model. A picture of Branch and King hung on her office walls.

Burnette called her students “the genius generation,” and insisted that teachers “tailor make” their lessons to foster students’ genius abilities. She took students with her to professional meetings, encouraged faculty to prepare students to present at professional conferences, and supported student organizations.

An engineer, Burnette sought opportunities and finances to advance STEM programs on campus. She partnered with Apple to bring the African American Male Teacher Initiative, which provided scholarships to Black male students who wanted to teach K-12 grades. She connected with the Austin community, letting them know HT was not asking for handouts, but to be an equal partner, providing them with trained personnel to move their organizational mission forward.

There were times when faculty thought that some HT staff decisions and some of Burnette’s decisions were less than ideal. A big concern was that academic people were fired and hired without faculty input. Despite that concern, Burnette was a president that supported faculty governance in theory and met with our faculty representative monthly.  When needed, she would come to Faculty Advisory Council meetings to discuss pressing issues.

Amazingly, HT was reaccredited during the COVID-19 shutdown, giving breathing room to her successor. Under her leadership, she was able to place HT financially in the black, also good news for HT and her successor.

Your sources and organizational skills are astounding

Thanks for acknowledging the extensive work that went into creating the only comprehensive book on HT that covers the period from 1965 to 2022.

I knew I was going to write something about McMillan because of his flawed administration. I kept every written document I could find about and by him including college magazines, newspaper articles, letters, memos, etc.

However, I did not have a timeline, nor know what shape it would take. There are two precipitating events that put the book into motion. One is that a colleague, Betty Etier, who worked at HT for more than 30 years, taught on a Friday and died on a Sunday. Her knowledge about various aspects of HT was extensive; most not written down. I was sorry that I had not formally interviewed her, though we were friends.

The second event that solidified my decision was that I went to the Carver Library to renew my library card. Walking out I saw a single book on a table near the exit. The title caught my eye: It was “Reminiscing HT,” by a retired HT faculty member who began teaching in 1928. I picked up the book, looked at the copyright date; it was 1973, the year I began teaching at HT.

My immediate reaction was “God, I got it!” Within weeks I submitted an application for a yearlong sabbatical to work on the book. Burnette approved.

Your short profiles of alumni and faculty are quite an Austin honor roll!

HT has had highly trained, student-centered professors throughout its history, a legacy I’m proud of. Not only do we teach, but we serve on committees, do research, develop cutting-edge curriculum, counsel and stay immersed in our fields through conferences and workshops in the U.S and sometimes abroad.

Although my book was published in 2025, the majority of the work was done prior to my retirement, an example of doing research while teaching.

Our students are highly trained via internships and community engagements as well as mastering content areas. Thus, the short profiles of faculty and alumni is my way of giving concrete examples of the incredible accomplishments of our professors and students.

Not all presidents embraced his or her human capital, reducing their capacity to live out the motto, “In Union, Strength.” Still, greats like Jackie Robinson, athletic coach during the Downs administration at Samuel Huston, Azie Taylor Morton ’56, the Treasurer of the United States during the Carter administration, Charles Urdy ’54, both a student and professor who served on the Austin City Council, and the Rev. Cecil Williams ’52 organizer and pastor of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco — among others— put HT on the map. Professor General Marshall (mathematics) has a public school named after him.

Each of these people bring honor to HT, shining a bright light on HT’s viability and success.

Austin could do better supporting Huston-Tillotson.