Simkins and Creekside Residence Halls

This segment explores the racial history behind the controversial naming of one of UT’s dorms. Creekside Hall, once Simkins Hall, was dedicated to a UT law professor and one-time Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon William Simkins. The story of the creation of the dorm, its naming, and ultimate renaming all open a window onto the history of segregation and commemoration at the University.

The first black undergraduates remember the UT Austin campus as an alienating and sometimes threatening place. They understood that they were pioneers and made community on a segregated campus. Many of these students have come together as the Precursors and have shared their experiences at the University during this era.

“Cross Burning Believed Prank,” October 1956, Daily Texan

Precursor Willie C. Jordan, Jr. ’63

“There was a cross-burning once on San Jacinto, on the grassy knoll in front of the natural history museum. My friends and I just walked on over and put it out, if you know what I mean.”

Many of the Precursors credit Almetris Marsh Duren—housemother and student development specialist and adviser—with helping them make the University a hospitable place, guiding them through the challenges they inevitably faced, and encouraging them to take advantage of the opportunities it afforded them.

Ametris Duren received the Excellence Award for superior performance, 1980, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History

Precursor June Singletary McCoy ’60

“In 2007, I came back to the campus for the dedication of Duren Residence Hall, named in honor of Almetris Duren, the woman who devoted her life to us. Mama Duren [a dormitory housemother and Dean of Students employee who was a mentor to black students] was a sweetheart. You could talk to her about any problem you had, and she prepared wonderful meals. We weren’t supposed to cook, but if you wanted to make some biscuits, she never fussed about it.”

For more on McCoy:

“UT’s first black undergraduates tell their stories,” Alcalde, accessed February 18, 2019, “Alcalde, accessed February 18, 2019, http://alcalde.texasexes.org/precursors/

For more on Jordan:

Boney, Jeffrey L. “Local Architect Willie Jordan, Being Recognized at 60th Anniversary of First UT African American Undergraduates,” Houston Forward Times, September 7, 2016, http://forwardtimes.com/local-architect-phyllis-wheatley-alum-willie-jordan-recognized-60th-anniversary-first-university-texas-african-american-undergraduates/

“UT’s first black undergraduates tell their stories,” Alcalde, accessed February 18, 2019, http://alcalde.texasexes.org/precursors/

There are wonderful resources on the Precursors, UT Austin’s first Black alumni:

http://diversity.utexas.edu/integration/the-precursors/

http://alcalde.texasexes.org/precursors/

http://diversity.utexas.edu/integration/

https://tribeza.com/people-of-the-year-the-precursors/

For more on the integration of UT dorms visit the tour stop entitled “Women’s Campus” and read the supplemental essay.

So we’re standing now in front of the entrance to Creekside Dorm. Creekside Dorm has not been called Creekside for very many years. The name was changed in 2010 from Simkin’s Hall.
If you remember, Professor William Simkins was a professor in the law school for about 30 years and well known for his Thanksgiving speeches lauding the Ku Klux Klan. Simkin’s Hall, when it was first built, was the most luxurious and outstanding dormitory on campus. It was built to house law, and other graduate students and was the first air-conditioned dorm on campus. It opened in 1954. In 1956 the University housed some of the first black undergraduate students to be admitted to UT in Dorm F, which sat on the site of what is now a parking garage just behind Simkin’s Hall.
At the time, this was segregated housing; one of two World War II barracks that housed black male students on campus. So you have juxtaposed this very luxurious air-conditioned dorm on the one hand for white students, and what black alumni describe as a wooden barrack with no air-conditioning or insulation just behind it for black students.
1954 is an important date in Civil Rights history. It was the year in which the Supreme Court decided Brown vs. The Board of Education. This decision ruled segregated schooling to be unconstitutional. Five weeks after the Brown vs. The Board of Education ruling, UT’s faculty counsel voted to name Simkin’s Dorm after the Grand Dragon of the KKK. We know that the dean of the law school, who recommended the name, was aware of Simkin’s participation in the Ku Klux Klan because of wording of his resolution to name the dorm is taken from a description of Simkins which includes his participation in the KKK. But that information is excluded in the dean’s petition.
So the dorm was named after Simkins, in response to the Supreme Court decision which ruled segregation to be illegal. The name of that Dean who made the recommendation was Keeton. The street that we can see in the distance here is named after him. So we have a street named after the person who was dean when Heman Sweatt first entered UT, and the dean who built the dorm named after a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan within weeks after the Brown vs. The Board of Education Supreme Court decision. And the dean who placed the luxurious dorm right beside the segregated housing for black men on campus.

Changing...

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17. Robert Lee Moore and Jim Bob Moffett Buildings

1933 architectural planning map of the University of Texas rendered by Paul Philippe Cret, with the location of Moore-Moffett Buildings marked.