Doc Talks Rice University's Task Force on Slavery, Segregation and Racial Injustice

On this episode, we look back at the Task Force research updates on slavery and the Founder’s Memorial, released in June 2021. Two Rice professors from the Jones School of Business and the Department of Sociology join us to discuss the updates and look ahead.

On this episode, we discuss the Board of Trustees’ announcement of plans to redesign the academic quadrangle and move the statue that has long stood at its center. We also examine a well-known photograph of a student protest from the 1970s and discuss newfound evidence that connects the protest with the origins of the Black Student Union.

A 1923 homecoming article in the Rice Thresher introduces us to an African American woman who worked on campus during the earliest days of the Rice Institute. And another article from the same year features a student performance of Eugene O'Neill's short play "The Dreamy Kid,"raising questions about portrayals of Black characters on stage at the Institute.

There were no Black students or faculty at the opening of the Rice
Insitute in 1912, but in this episode, we take a look at some of the
schools being built and attended by Black Houstonians at the same time. When Black faculty like Dr. Rose M. Brewer finally do begin to arrive at Rice in the 1970s, what do their paths to the university tell us about the first decade of desegregation at Rice?

On this episode, you'll hear about a decision made (or not made) by the Rice Board of Trustees in 1941, and you'll get a glimpse of the 2021 edition of O-Week. Dr. McDaniel is also joined by a special guest, Dr. Nicole Waligora-Davis from the Department of English, to discuss a banquet held by the student Pre-Law Society in 1928.

A video featuring an early Black faculty member walking in the academic quadrangle in 1972, and a series of events surrounding the unveiling of the William Marsh Rice statue in 1930, leads to a conversation about race, space, and belonging at Rice.