DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker in Wichita County tells this story, and I'm going to do my level best to give it the weight it deserves. June 30, 1929. Wichita Falls, Texas.
James Randolph Farris, Sr. and Roberta Bell Farris — both public school educators, mind you, people who understood what knowledge could do — welcomed their only daughter into the world. They named her Charlye Ola Farris. And from the very start, she was movin' at a pace that would leave most folks checking their watches.
By the time Charlye walked out of Booker T. Washington High School, she was fifteen years old and she walked out as valedictorian. Fifteen.
Then she went to Prairie View A&M College and came out the other side in 1948, eighteen years old, holding a degree in Political Science. She taught for a year — her parents' profession in her blood — but something else was calling to her. The law.
So Charlye Farris went to Howard University in Washington, D.C., and she earned her law degree in 1953. Now here's where you lean in a little closer to the fire. During her final year at Howard, her class worked on a case you may have heard of — Brown v.
Board of Education of Topeka. That landmark racial desegregation case. She was in the room where that work was being done.
She came home to Texas carrying that degree and all that weight, and on November 12, 1953, Charlye Farris was sworn in as the first Black woman licensed to practice law in the state of Texas. The whole state. Then she set up a solo practice right back in Wichita Falls, becoming the first Black person — male or female — to actively practice law in Wichita County.
Now. The marker does not soften what came next. Charlye faced many obstacles and much discrimination — in Wichita County and within the legal profession itself.
The road was not cleared for her. She cleared it. And then 1954 arrives.
Farris was selected to serve as county judge pro-tem. First Black person to serve as a judge in the South since Reconstruction. Let that settle.
The honors came over the years — including the American Bar Association's Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement award, among others. But the marker tells us one of her proudest distinctions was serving on the Board of Regents of Midwestern State University. The same university that had not permitted her to attend as a student because of her race.
She didn't just crack that door open — she eventually sat on the board that governed the place. Fifty-six years of legal practice. Fifty-six years of serving her community in ways too numerous to count.
Charlye Ola Farris was born in 1929 and passed in 2010, and the marker says her life is a testament to the determination and the impact one individual can have on a community, a state, and a nation. Out here in Wichita County, that's not an epitaph. That's a reckoning.
What the marker says
(1929 - 2010) Public school educators James Randolph Farris, Sr. and Roberta (Bell) Farris welcomed their only daughter, Charlye Ola Farris, on June 30, 1929 in Wichita Falls. Charlye graduated as valedictorian of Booker T. Washington High School at age 15, and from Prairie View A&M College in 1948 at the age of eighteen with a degree in Political Science. After a year of teaching, Charlye pursued her interest in becoming an attorney. Farris received her law degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1953. During her final year, Farris’ class worked on the landmark racial desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. Charlye was sworn in on Nov. 12, 1953 as the first black woman to be licensed to practice law in Texas. Charlye started a solo practice in Wichita Falls, becoming the first black, male or female, to actively practice law in Wichita County. Charlye faced many obstacles and much discrimination in Wichita County and within the legal profession. However, in 1954, Farris was selected to serve as county judge pro-tem, making her the first black person to serve as a judge in the South since Reconstruction. Among her many awards, such as the American Bar Association’s Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement, one of her proudest was serving on the Board of Regents of Midwestern State University, where she was not permitted to attend earlier as a student due to her race. During her 56 years of legal practice, Charlye served her community in numerous ways. Her life is a testament to the determination and the impact one individual can have on a community, state, and nation. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836 - 2011