Saint Louis University is celebrating its bicentennial in 2018, but blacks and women have been admitted to the Jesuit icon in Midtown for barely half a century. Former Congressman Bill Clay was one of 11 black students who first matriculated at SLU in 1949, and The American asked him about his experiences.
St. Louis American: When did you enroll at Saint Louis University and why?
Bill Clay: I enrolled in Saint Louis University in September 1949 after my graduation from Saint Nicholas High School. I was the recipient of a Catholic education, graduating from St. Nicholas Elementary and its high school. The university had a great representation across the country, and Catholics in the Midwest considered it great occasion to be accepted by the institution. That, of course, was white Catholics, since it was an all-white, all-male institution.
During the prior years of my enrollment, the school had experimented with one or two blacks accepted in various of their schools – for example, one in nursing or one in liberal arts. But, in 1949, the school decided to open its enrollment to blacks and admitted 11 black students. I was one of those 11.
I was encouraged to apply at the school by a white priest that I had known for years, and also a white Catholic woman who had paid the tuition of many Negro students, including myself, to attend the segregated Catholic schools. I paid my own tuition at Saint Louis U., having worked at a retail men’s store in downtown St. Louis since I was 12 years old when the 2nd World War had drained most of the adult blacks and whites into the military.
UMSL Chancellor Blanche Touhill later told me the school admitted females for the first time on the same day the school admitted blacks.
St. Louis American: So how bad was it? Did you experience overt racism on a regular basis?
Bill Clay: No. And to my knowledge, none of the other 10 initial student did either. The instructors were very helpful and very professional. There were freshmen who tried out for the basketball team, and the school rated high nationally in the sport. It played regularly in post-season tournaments, even won titles in the some.
There were no demonstrations against our being on campus. Black students still had a tendency to affiliate with Stowe Teachers College for after-school activities.
One incident that had nothing to do with racism was that a few of us pledged fraternities that were based at Stowe. I pledged a fraternity, but never followed through. The reason was quite simple: Stowe was conducting “Hell Week” during our midterm exams. I chose not participate in Hell Week at the expense of my grades in the exams.
The next year, the enrollment of blacks at SLU increased substantially. Students started coming from around the country.
St. Louis American: Tell me about some of the other black students. Must have been an intense group.
Bill Clay: During my four years at the university, the black student body increased substantially. They came from many other states. A few that I remember …
Albert Thomas of Montgomery, Alabama, who finished medical school; his sister Ora Malone migrated to St. Louis and was a labor leader with the Ladies Garment Workers Union and also a civil rights activist. Dr. Harry Revels, who went to Kansas City to practice. Herman Thompson, who became a lawyer and practiced in North Carolina. Betty McNeal, the daughter of Senator Ted McNeal. Johnetta Matthews, who was a teacher. Anita Lyons Bond, an educator and elected official who married Dr. Les Bond. Jerry Lemay of Little Rock, Arkansas, who became a high-ranking naval officer.
St. Louis American: What impact do you think you and your cohort had on the culture and direction of the institution?
Bill Clay: It is difficult to assess what impact the presence of black students had on the direction of the institution without analyzing how the institution had arrived at the critical decision to integrate. I for one believe that those in charge of school had honestly prepared for the acceptance of black students and had laid the groundwork amidst the faculty members and the financial donors that it was inevitable and that no resistance to it would be tolerated.
In my individual case, there were several instructors who went out of the way to make sure that I was advancing at the same rate as my white counterparts. One speech instructor assisted me after classes, and that proved extremely important in my becoming a much better public speaker.
Then, there was my instructor of political science, who probably was responsible for my getting involved in aggressive politics. He convinced Herman Thompson and me that the 1952 elections had such a great impact on black people’s lives that we could not just sit on the sidelines. As a result, the two of us ended up in the 18th Ward supporting Fred Weather to unseat an incumbent for committeeman. It was during that campaign that we met Daniel Tillman, an attorney, and canvassed precincts door-to-door for several months. Tillman later was appointed a circuit judge and served many years with distinction.
I really believe that those shaping and dictating school policy had reached the position that it was a moral and religious obligation to step up and speak out forcibly for fundamental change in attitudes about racial perceptions. I felt that the administrators and instructors at the school were willing to bite the bullet and confront racism and racists head-on. Many other leaders in the business and religious community were very reluctant in 1949 to take a stand in such racial matters.
