Sweatt's Courthouse
He won in the Supreme Court, and lost nearly everything else. His name is on this courthouse.
Listen to this place’s story in Peplos.
How the story begins
"Let them arrest you so I have another case to take." That, as John King remembered it, is what Thurgood Marshall said in this courthouse in May 1947, when officers told Black servicemen to leave the seats reserved for whites. The officers let the men stay. The case was Heman Sweatt's, and the building carries his name now. He was a Houston mail carrier, passed over for promotion because of his race.
The rest is in the app. Peplos plays the full story when you reach the place. You can also listen ahead of time.
Visiting
Tenth and Guadalupe streets, Austin. A county courthouse, so see it from the sidewalk.
Sources
- The Sweatt v. Painter Case, UT in Context, University of Texas
- Sweatt, Heman Marion, Handbook of Texas
- Sweatt v. Painter, Handbook of Texas
- History of the Courthouses, Travis County Archives
- First Supreme Court case challenging race's role in UT admissions, KUT
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