Texas Southern University was established in 1947 under Texas
State Senate Bill 140, which granted the University the
authority to offer courses of higher learning in pharmacy,
dentistry, journalism, education, arts and sciences, literature,
law, medicine, and other professional courses. The University,
established by the Fiftieth Texas Legislature, was originally
known as "Texas State University for Negroes." However, the name
was changed by the legislature in 1951 to Texas Southern
University. About Texas Southern University and Thurgood
Marshall School of Law The Thurgood Marshall School of Law, as
well as the University at-large, was undoubtedly created as a
consequence of a 1946 lawsuit brought by Heman M. Sweatt. Under
the Texas Constitution, which required separate but equal
treatment, Mr. Sweatt was refused admission to the University of
Texas School of Law because he was black. As a result, the
legislature provided for an interim and separate law school for
Negroes. During its first academic year, th