This LibGuide is meant to help people locate information on TSU history, alumni and faculty.

Incoming Freshmen are sometimes assigned to research some aspect of TSU History as part of their orientation to TSU. The first place some choose to begin their research--not a bad way to begin--is through TSU's Wikipedia entry. (Just don't cite Wikipedia as a source, because some professors don't view it as credible or authoritative.) Please see a librarian if you need assistance finding materials.

Here are some other online resources which may be helpful to you. 

Online Resources:

         TSU Library Special Collection: http://www.tsu.edu/academics/library/specialcollections.html

Brief overview of TSU's history on the university's website: http://www.tsu.edu/about/history.php

Texas State Historical Association's Handbook of Texas entry for Texas Southern University.https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/texas-southern-university

Rice University's Museum of Houston has digitized 98 historical documents and images relating to TSU History. The collection may be found here: https://scholarship.rice.edu/handle/1911/36277 but the originals reside in the Heartman Collection at the Robert J. Terry Library.

HBCU Digital History Archive. A digital collection celebrating the founding of the historically Black colleges and universities.  http://hbcudigitallibrary.auctr.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/TXDC  

"Historical overview of Texas Southern University and its impact" by Ozzell Taylor Johnson. http://www.uh.edu/honors/Programs-Minors/honors-and-the-schools/houston-teachers-institute/curriculum-units/pdfs/1999/the-history-economic-base-and-politics-of-houston/taylor-johnson-99-houston.pdf

The history of higher education for Negroes in Texas, 1930-1955: with particular reference to Texas Southern University / by Raphael O'Hara Lanier.  LC2802.T4 L3 1957a. (Heartman) Download ProQuest Full text PDF. Off-campus access available only to authorized users.

Origin and development of Texas Southern University by William E. Terry. LC2851.T4532 T4 1978 (Heartman, 4^th Floor). Also later edition  LC2851.T4532 T4 1968a. (Heartman and ProQuest link)  Download ProQuest Full text PDF. Off-campus access available only to authorized users.

Houston History magazine (online) has a few good articles on TSU history: https://houstonhistorymagazine.org/?s=texas+southern+University

Print Resources:

         As I see Texas Southern University and the University of Houston by Bridges Alfred Turner. LC2851.T4532 T87 1986 (Heartman)Texas Southern        University, from Separation to Special Designation, by John H. Lash, Thomas Freeman, and Hortense Dixon. LC2851.T4532 L3 (Heartman)

Texas Southern University: Its Antecedents, Political Origin, and Future by Ira B. Bryant. LC2851.T4532 B7 1975 (Heartman and 4^th Floor)

TSU Meets the Press:  White newspaper coverage of a Black University in Houston, Texas, 1947-2006, written and compiled by E. Bun Lee.  LC2851.T4532 L44 2007 (Heartman, Reference and 4^th Floor)

TSU Archives, located in Heartman Special Collections, houses the official records of Texas Southern University. The records include board meeting minutes, presidential papers, yearbooks, dissertations, photographs and other documents related to the history and development of the institution. These documents are not available online but are available for the public to view. TSU archives contains papers of Barbara Jordan, Mickey Leeland, TSU presidents, various documents associated with the devopment of Houston's Third Ward, and items related to the slave trade in Texas. 

TSU Buildings are names after the following notable individuals:

Robert J. Terry [Old Library] -- TSU Administrator, President, 1986-1987

Mack H. Hannah [Hannah Hall]

Granville M. Sawyer [Sawyer Auditorium] -- TSU President, 1967-1979.

Jesse H. Jones [School of Business]

Barbara Jordan–Mickey Leland [School of Public Affairs]

Spurgeon N. Gray [Gray Hall -- Pharmacy Building]

Leonard H. O. Spearman Technology building

Thurgood Marshall School of Law

Thomas Freeman Honors College