St. Philip’s College: A Point of Pride on San Antonio’s Eastside by Marie Pennell Thurston (review)

St. Philip’s College, founded in 1898, is today a unique two-year Texas institution because it has historically served Hispanic and African American students, thus making it the only institution in the nation to have embraced simultaneously these two educational communities as its collegiate mission. Originally founded as a high school for African American students under the auspices of the Diocese of West Texas of the Episcopal Church, it gained junior college status in the 1920s and became part of the San Antonio Independent School District in 1942. Today it operates as part of the Alamo Community College District.

Through these changes, the college has kept is historical identity and educational integrity largely due to the hard work of dedicated administrators and faculty members who have provided resolute continuity in its educational efforts. Ranking first among them is most certainly Artemisia Bowden, a Georgia native who spent much of her life at the college as a teacher, administrator, and dean. She joined the faculty in 1902 as an instructor, became principal (as the college’s head was then known formally) and superintended the school’s becoming a junior college. She refused to let the school close during the days of the Great Depression, in the process cajoling city officials into providing support for it when the Episcopal Church lacked the necessary resources. She led the school through World War II, finally retiring as its president in 1954.

This book provides the story of St. Philip’s in a creative manner, mostly from the editing of individual oral history interviews of various people associated with the college into a cohesive and chronological historical narrative. The author is the long-time director of the college’s oral history program, having amassed in these activities a noteworthy collection of interviews that cover the college’s history from the early years of the twentieth century. Of course, the more recent decades proved a much richer source for these efforts because there is a larger array of interviewees over a wider range of topics, although the early years of the college’s history also receive comprehensive coverage in the book, but to a greater extent from the documentary record than the more contemporary sections. The perspective of the volume maintains a well-balanced treatment of viewpoints held by administrators, faculty members, former students, and community supporters of the college. Unlike some institutional histories of other colleges and universities, which can be very administratively oriented and dry, this book pays much attention to student life and campus activities. As such, alumni over the generations of St. Philip’s history will find much in this book that will recall to them their own experiences at the school. It also tells an inspiring story in very human terms of former students whose subsequent success in life has clearly flowed from their educational experiences at the college. Today, the college makes much of its slogan as “A Point of Pride” for San Antonio, an effort that is reflected in the subtitle of this volume. The meticulous research, adroit use of oral history interviews, and the inspiring stories of faculty and students contained in this book drive home that fact that St. Philip’s College most certainly deserves its slogan as an accurate reflection of its history.