DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the marker on Melvin B. Tolson tells it, and I'll do my best to honor every word. Now, some people leave a mark on one thing.
Maybe a town, maybe a school, maybe a sport. Melvin Beaunorus Tolson left a mark on just about everything he touched — and the places he touched include a corner of Marshall, Texas, that the world ought to know a whole lot better than it does. Tolson came into this world on February 6, 1898, in Kansas City, Missouri.
His father, Reverend Alonzo, was a Methodist minister, and his mother was Lera Ann — born a Hurt — Tolson. You get the sense right away that this was a household where words mattered. Where ideas had weight.
Melvin graduated high school there in Kansas City in 1918, and then he went east to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania — the nation's first Black college — where he earned his Bachelor's degree in English in 1923. The following year, 1924, Tolson walked into Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, and began what would become twenty-three years of teaching English and Speech. Twenty-three years.
And if you think that sounds like a man who settled into a comfortable routine, well — hold on. While he was at Wiley, Tolson also created a debate team. Now, I don't mean he organized a club and called it a day.
The Wiley Forensic Society packed venues. They won high-profile debates across the country. In 1933, they defeated England's Oxford University.
Let that land for a second. Oxford. England.
And then, just to make sure nobody thought that was a fluke, in 1935 they defeated the University of Southern California — that year's national champions. The Wiley Forensic Society. And that's not all Tolson was doing.
He co-founded the Intercollegiate Southern Association of Dramatic and Speech Arts. He directed the theater club. He coached junior varsity football.
The man was not sitting still. Some of the students who came through his classroom went on to become influential civil rights activists — James L. Farmer, Jr., Fred Lewis, and Heman Sweatt among them.
When you teach the way Tolson taught, the ripples go a long, long way. His own writing was doing some traveling too. From 1937 to 1944, he wrote a regular column for The Washington Tribune called "Caviar and Cabbages" — a series largely rooted in African American life.
The title alone tells you something about the man. He could hold two very different things in the same hand and make them make sense together. In 1947, Tolson left Wiley College for Langston University in Oklahoma.
His poetry and writings kept receiving acclaim. He served as Mayor of Langston from 1954 to 1962. And on August 29, 1966, Melvin Beaunorus Tolson died.
But here's the thing about a man like that. You don't really lose him. He's in the debate that got won, in the column that got read, in the student who stood up when it was hard to stand.
The marker calls him an incredible orator, writer, and educator who inspired others to prevail. Out here on a Texas road, I'd say that's just about exactly right.
What the marker says
Poet, professor, and playwright, Melvin Beaunorus Tolson was born on February 6, 1898 in Kansas City, Missouri, to Rev. Alonzo, a Methodist minister, and Lera Ann (Hurt) Tolson. Melvin graduated high school in 1918 in Kansas City, Missouri and then earned a Bachelor’s degree in English in 1923 from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, the nation’s first Black college. Tolson began his teaching career in 1924 at Wiley College in Marshall, where he remained until 1947. While at Wiley College, Tolson taught English and Speech, created an award-winning debate team, co-founded the Intercollegiate Southern Association of Dramatic and Speech Arts, directed the theater club and coached junior varsity football. The debate team, the Wiley Forensic Society, packed venues and won many high-profile debates, including the 1933 defeat of England’s Oxford University and the 1935 defeat of the University of Southern California, the year’s national champions. Several of Tolson’s students became influential civil rights activists, including James L. Farmer, Jr., Fred Lewis and Heman Sweatt. Tolson’s passion and eloquence transferred to his own writings. From 1937 to 1944, Tolson wrote a regular column in The Washington Tribune called “Caviar and Cabbages,” a series largely based on African American life. Tolson left Wiley College for Langston University in Oklahoma in 1947. His poetry and writings continued to receive acclaim and he served as Mayor of Langston from 1954 to 1962. Tolson died on August 29, 1966, but will forever be remembered as an incredible orator, writer and educator who inspired others to prevail. (2014)