• Sepia portrait of R.S. Lovinggood
    Credits: University of Texas at Arlington
  • H.W. Greene is seated at a desk at Samuel Huston College and looking over a small document.
    Credits: Huston-Tillotson University
  • The cover page of Samuel Huston College’s annual academic catalog from the 1909-1910 academic season. Across the cover page reads “Four years classical course leading to A. B.”
    Credits: Huston-Tillotson University
  • Portrait of L.C. Anderson.
    Credits: George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center
  • Black and white portrait of H. T. Kealing
    Credits: J. Pott & Co.
  • Black and white illustration of David Abner Jr
    Credits: University of North Texas: The Portal to Texas History
  • R.S. Lovinggod sitting on the driver’s side of an older 20th century car, his hands atop the steering wheel.
    Credits: Huston-Tillotson University

A Local History of Latin and Greek in Black Education

1880 to the Present Day

Black Classicists in Texas is a free public exhibition, celebrating the life and work of classicists of color in Austin and Central Texas. In 1900, Reuben Shannon Lovinggood, the Chair of the Greek and Latin Department at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, made an impassioned argument against those who minimized the value of liberal education, especially Classics, for Black people. In the same year, Lovinggood became the first president of Samuel Huston College (now Huston-Tillotson University), and a pillar of the Austin Black community.

But he was not the only one.

Black Classicists in Texas tells the story of Central Texas’ early educators of color and their passion for the study of antiquity. Explore images, archival materials, interviews, and current scholarship to find out more about Lovinggood, L.C. Anderson, H.T. Kealing, and their vibrant community of scholars, students and public intellectuals. Learn about Classics and its place in historic debates on Black self-determination, and find out more about classical education in Austin today.

Visit the three exhibition sites at the Benson Collection at the University of Texas at Austin, Huston-Tillotson University, and the Carver Museum, or dig into the virtual exhibits on this page.

This exhibition is a collaboration between the Department of Classics at the University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas Libraries, the Black Diaspora Archive at the LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, the Downs-Jones Library at Huston-Tillotson University, and the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center.

Special thanks to creative studio In-House International.

Sponsors: Humanities Texas, Mellon Foundation, the Society for Classical Studies, and, at the University of Texas at Austin, the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Office of the Vice Provost for Diversity, and Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services.

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