Diving into Prairie View A&M University through the history makers

I have the honor of attending the illustrious Prairie View Agriculture and Mechanical University. Prairie View A&M University was established in 1876. My school is the first state-supported college in Texas for African Americans. On August 14, 1876, just a few short days after Texas A&M was established) Alta Vista Agricultural and Mechanical College for Texas Colored Youth was founded to give higher education opportunities for African Americans. On April 19, 1879, the school’s name was changed to Prairie View State Normal School with the help of William H. Holland. In 1887, Prairie View A&M University added agriculture, nursing, arts, sciences, and mechanical arts to their curriculum. Their first baccalaureate degree was in nursing. In 1973 the school’s name was changed to Prairie View A&M University. Currently, the university has over 50 majors and has over 8,000 students.

There are no words great enough to describe how wonderful our president is. Dr. Ruth Simmons or as the students like to call her Ruth the truth, truly is amazing. Dr. Simmons came from being the president at Brown university to Prairie View A&M University. Before having a president role she worked at many other schools such as Harvard, Southern California, Princeton University, and Spelman College. Her first President role was at Smith College, the largest Women’s college in the United States. When Dr. Simmons was first hired at my university it was just for an interim position, she was planning to retire. The students loved her so much, that she decided to stay at the school and turned down many other offers. President Simmons is so dedicated to African American student’s education that she left a top administrative role at Princenton to help out Spelman College. Dr. Simmons states that if she hadn’t attended a Historically Black University or College she would have never been about to accomplish all that she has.

            District Attorney Craig Watkins attended Prairie View A&M University. In his clip “Craig Watkins recalls his decision to attend Prairie View A&M University, Texas” he mentions how his parents basically said, “ you haven’t picked a school so we are taking you to Prairie View A&M University”. He states how that was the best decision that his mom could have ever made for him. He truly enjoyed Prairie View A&M University or “the hill” as the students call it. Mr. Watkins met his wife at Prairie View A&M University and her parents also graduated from there. Their son Chad Watkins graduated from the university and their other son Cale Watkins is currently there as a rising junior. Dr. Bernard Harris mentions that his mother attended Prairie View A&M University. Many of the stories talk about all the positive parts of attending attended Prairie View A&M University. While I think that is great to talk about the positive I also think that some should have mentioned some of the negatives. One of the negative that I believe going to an HBCU presents is that there is not really diversity like there is in the real world you are for the most part surround by African Americans which could cause a culture shock once your graduate. In my case, the culture shock was when I first attended the university since I attended all-white schools growing up.  One of the articles that I read while doing this research stated that going to a historically black college or university will teach you patience on a whole different level. Your professors will treat you like they are your child. You are not just a number, they will know your name and important information about you.

There are three main reasons why I picked Prairie View, the first being that I am a sixth-generation at the university, another being the amazing nursing program that the university has, and thirdly because you get a sense of home whenever you are on campus. I really enjoyed searching and learning more about my university. The first question that I typed into Google was “when was Prairie View A&M University Founded”. That then brought up a lot of websites that told about when the school was founded but also told me a little about the time period that the school was founded. I then search “ prairie view a&m notable alumni”. The first website that popped up was the school’s website. Sandra Bland is the first person who pops up on the screen. Many people have heard her name but did not know that she went to Prairie View. Loni Love from The Real also attended Prairie View. Terry Ellis (who danced with my mother as a black fox) from En Vogue and so many more. The next web search that I did was “ who was the first black president at Prairie View”. This pulled up the amazingly wonderful Dr. Simmons. I then proceeded to the digital archive. The first time I just put in “prairie view” which popped up only 3 stories. When I typed in the full name of the school 266 stories came up. The first history maker that I notice was Craig Watkin. One thing that I found interesting is that when I searched on google the first black president at Prairie View A&M University Dr. Simmons popped up but when looking through the archive I saw some other African American president who seemed to be older. The next thing that I searched in the archive was Prairie View A&M University; nursing. I searched this since I am a nursing major and I wanted to know a little bit more history of the actual program. The results that I got from this search were we same as the second search. One thing that I looked for in my search was any mention of the grass. During your first days on the campus, you are taught about the history of the university. One of the first things that you are taught is to not walk on the grass or you will be fined two hundred and fifty dollars. Many people may think that it’s a joke but the meaning behind it makes a lot of sense. We are not allowed to walk on the grass because the university was built on a plantation and we do not know where people were buried. With respect to our ancestors, we cannot walk on the grass. This school is truly a family, you will know everyone and they will treat you like family. I cannot wait to share all the history of my amazing university through my blog post.