After a stint as a fighter pilot, Hermann A. Barnett III returned home to become the first black graduate from a Texas medical school, overcoming Jim Crow laws and hardened racial prejudice. He endured slights and indignities, including a beating by a Galveston County sheriff's deputy, to graduate from the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1953. He went on to become the first black president of the Houston school board and the first black member of the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners. Barnett confronted Texas segregation laws after serving in the Army Air Forces as a fighter pilot, one of the Tuskegee Airmen. Raised in San Antonio, Barnett enlisted in 1944 at Fort Sam Houston and was an outstanding airman. Barnett flew with the 332nd Fighter Group and was one of the best pilots to emerge from segregated training at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. After his discharge, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People asked Barnett to help crack the medical field color barrier in Texas, a sobering prospect during an era when violence was often used against blacks who dared flout the Jim Crow laws that enforced segregation. Barnett was at first reluctant, because he had been accepted to medical schools at two all-black institutions: Howard University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., and Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn. Finally he agreed, and the NAACP and the state of Texas came up with an elaborate scheme to allow Barnett to attend UTMB without breaking Texas segregation laws, Williams said. The state acquiesced because it feared a precedent-setting lawsuit that would batter down the doors of segregation. Barnett enrolled at Texas Southern University, created in 1947 as Texas State University for Negroes, in an attempt to outflank legal challenges to segregation. Because Texas State had no medical school, Barnett was allowed to attend UTMB under the ruse that it was only until medical classes were available at the all-black school. Then a story was planted in local newspapers to head off any outcry from segregationists. "All the money was paid to Texas (State) and the newspaper published that they would build a medical school at Texas State for blacks. "Anybody that has an iota of intelligence would have known that that's not going to happen, but it sold them."
Barnett began classes at UTMB in 1948, arriving each day impeccably attired in suit and tie. Medical school was difficult for the lone black student. It was so tough that there were courses where he was not allowed to sit in the classroom. Barnett aced a microbiology course while taking notes in the hallway. He was very much admired by people in his class as well as his instructors at every level. Barnett grasped difficult concepts quickly and helped explain them to his peers. Barnett's most violent encounter with racism came the year he graduated, Williams said. A sheriff's deputy stopped Barnett for speeding and noticed his class ring. "Where did you steal it from?" the deputy asked. The deputy beat Barnett when he answered that he was a graduate. They never did return his ring. Realization of the difficulties Barnett encountered because of his race after students boarded a Galveston bus on the way to a football game. The driver ordered Barnett to the back of the bus. Barnett moved to the back, but another student became angry, saying, "I'm not going to ride on the bus with this kind of discrimination." They got off the bus, and Barnett tried to calm his ali. "You can't get angry over ignorance," he told him. The student later said about Hermann, "He, of course, was correct. I realized that Hermann was not only superior intellectually, but had a superiority of spirit as well." A new exhibit honoring Dr. Hermann A. Barnett, III, the first African American to enroll and graduate medical school in Texas, will opened Sept. 25, at the Moody Medical Library, Ninth and Market streets on the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston campus. A reception wias held in the library foyer. Dr. Barnett graduated from UTMB in 1953. He was a man of many "firsts" including the first African-American to serve on the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners and the first African American to be elected president of the Houston ISD Board of Trustees. Before medical school, Barnett served as a Tuskegee airman fighter pilot with the U.S. Army Air Corps. Dr. Barnett was a remarkable, gentle man and a role model and mentor to many young people. His life is an example of what men and women of character can accomplish despite obstacles. The father of five children, including Dr. Marcus Barnett who graduated from UTMB in 1984. Dr. Barnett died in a 1973 plane crash at the age of 47, leaving a wife and five children, two of whom became doctors. The university posthumously honored Barnett as a distinguished alumnus. A School of Medicine Memorial Scholarship student award is named in his honor and Clifford W. Houston, Ph.D. holds the Distinguished Professorship in microbiology and immunology endowed in Barnett's name.
Barnett began classes at UTMB in 1948, arriving each day impeccably attired in suit and tie. Medical school was difficult for the lone black student. It was so tough that there were courses where he was not allowed to sit in the classroom. Barnett aced a microbiology course while taking notes in the hallway. He was very much admired by people in his class as well as his instructors at every level. Barnett grasped difficult concepts quickly and helped explain them to his peers. Barnett's most violent encounter with racism came the year he graduated, Williams said. A sheriff's deputy stopped Barnett for speeding and noticed his class ring. "Where did you steal it from?" the deputy asked. The deputy beat Barnett when he answered that he was a graduate. They never did return his ring. Realization of the difficulties Barnett encountered because of his race after students boarded a Galveston bus on the way to a football game. The driver ordered Barnett to the back of the bus. Barnett moved to the back, but another student became angry, saying, "I'm not going to ride on the bus with this kind of discrimination." They got off the bus, and Barnett tried to calm his ali. "You can't get angry over ignorance," he told him. The student later said about Hermann, "He, of course, was correct. I realized that Hermann was not only superior intellectually, but had a superiority of spirit as well." A new exhibit honoring Dr. Hermann A. Barnett, III, the first African American to enroll and graduate medical school in Texas, will opened Sept. 25, at the Moody Medical Library, Ninth and Market streets on the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston campus. A reception wias held in the library foyer. Dr. Barnett graduated from UTMB in 1953. He was a man of many "firsts" including the first African-American to serve on the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners and the first African American to be elected president of the Houston ISD Board of Trustees. Before medical school, Barnett served as a Tuskegee airman fighter pilot with the U.S. Army Air Corps. Dr. Barnett was a remarkable, gentle man and a role model and mentor to many young people. His life is an example of what men and women of character can accomplish despite obstacles. The father of five children, including Dr. Marcus Barnett who graduated from UTMB in 1984. Dr. Barnett died in a 1973 plane crash at the age of 47, leaving a wife and five children, two of whom became doctors. The university posthumously honored Barnett as a distinguished alumnus. A School of Medicine Memorial Scholarship student award is named in his honor and Clifford W. Houston, Ph.D. holds the Distinguished Professorship in microbiology and immunology endowed in Barnett's name.
After a stint as a fighter pilot, Hermann A. Barnett III returned home to become the first black graduate from a Texas medical school, overcoming Jim Crow laws and hardened racial prejudice. He endured slights and indignities, including a beating by a Galveston County sheriff's deputy, to graduate from the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1953. He went on to become the first black president of the Houston school board and the first black member of the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners. Barnett confronted Texas segregation laws after serving in the Army Air Forces as a fighter pilot, one of the Tuskegee Airmen. Raised in San Antonio, Barnett enlisted in 1944 at Fort Sam Houston and was an outstanding airman. Barnett flew with the 332nd Fighter Group and was one of the best pilots to emerge from segregated training at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. After his discharge, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People asked Barnett to help crack the medical field color barrier in Texas, a sobering prospect during an era when violence was often used against blacks who dared flout the Jim Crow laws that enforced segregation. Barnett was at first reluctant, because he had been accepted to medical schools at two all-black institutions: Howard University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., and Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn. Finally he agreed, and the NAACP and the state of Texas came up with an elaborate scheme to allow Barnett to attend UTMB without breaking Texas segregation laws, Williams said. The state acquiesced because it feared a precedent-setting lawsuit that would batter down the doors of segregation. Barnett enrolled at Texas Southern University, created in 1947 as Texas State University for Negroes, in an attempt to outflank legal challenges to segregation. Because Texas State had no medical school, Barnett was allowed to attend UTMB under the ruse that it was only until medical classes were available at the all-black school. Then a story was planted in local newspapers to head off any outcry from segregationists. "All the money was paid to Texas (State) and the newspaper published that they would build a medical school at Texas State for blacks. "Anybody that has an iota of intelligence would have known that that's not going to happen, but it sold them."
Barnett began classes at UTMB in 1948, arriving each day impeccably attired in suit and tie. Medical school was difficult for the lone black student. It was so tough that there were courses where he was not allowed to sit in the classroom. Barnett aced a microbiology course while taking notes in the hallway. He was very much admired by people in his class as well as his instructors at every level. Barnett grasped difficult concepts quickly and helped explain them to his peers. Barnett's most violent encounter with racism came the year he graduated, Williams said. A sheriff's deputy stopped Barnett for speeding and noticed his class ring. "Where did you steal it from?" the deputy asked. The deputy beat Barnett when he answered that he was a graduate. They never did return his ring. Realization of the difficulties Barnett encountered because of his race after students boarded a Galveston bus on the way to a football game. The driver ordered Barnett to the back of the bus. Barnett moved to the back, but another student became angry, saying, "I'm not going to ride on the bus with this kind of discrimination." They got off the bus, and Barnett tried to calm his ali. "You can't get angry over ignorance," he told him. The student later said about Hermann, "He, of course, was correct. I realized that Hermann was not only superior intellectually, but had a superiority of spirit as well." A new exhibit honoring Dr. Hermann A. Barnett, III, the first African American to enroll and graduate medical school in Texas, will opened Sept. 25, at the Moody Medical Library, Ninth and Market streets on the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston campus. A reception wias held in the library foyer. Dr. Barnett graduated from UTMB in 1953. He was a man of many "firsts" including the first African-American to serve on the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners and the first African American to be elected president of the Houston ISD Board of Trustees. Before medical school, Barnett served as a Tuskegee airman fighter pilot with the U.S. Army Air Corps. Dr. Barnett was a remarkable, gentle man and a role model and mentor to many young people. His life is an example of what men and women of character can accomplish despite obstacles. The father of five children, including Dr. Marcus Barnett who graduated from UTMB in 1984. Dr. Barnett died in a 1973 plane crash at the age of 47, leaving a wife and five children, two of whom became doctors. The university posthumously honored Barnett as a distinguished alumnus. A School of Medicine Memorial Scholarship student award is named in his honor and Clifford W. Houston, Ph.D. holds the Distinguished Professorship in microbiology and immunology endowed in Barnett's name.
Barnett began classes at UTMB in 1948, arriving each day impeccably attired in suit and tie. Medical school was difficult for the lone black student. It was so tough that there were courses where he was not allowed to sit in the classroom. Barnett aced a microbiology course while taking notes in the hallway. He was very much admired by people in his class as well as his instructors at every level. Barnett grasped difficult concepts quickly and helped explain them to his peers. Barnett's most violent encounter with racism came the year he graduated, Williams said. A sheriff's deputy stopped Barnett for speeding and noticed his class ring. "Where did you steal it from?" the deputy asked. The deputy beat Barnett when he answered that he was a graduate. They never did return his ring. Realization of the difficulties Barnett encountered because of his race after students boarded a Galveston bus on the way to a football game. The driver ordered Barnett to the back of the bus. Barnett moved to the back, but another student became angry, saying, "I'm not going to ride on the bus with this kind of discrimination." They got off the bus, and Barnett tried to calm his ali. "You can't get angry over ignorance," he told him. The student later said about Hermann, "He, of course, was correct. I realized that Hermann was not only superior intellectually, but had a superiority of spirit as well." A new exhibit honoring Dr. Hermann A. Barnett, III, the first African American to enroll and graduate medical school in Texas, will opened Sept. 25, at the Moody Medical Library, Ninth and Market streets on the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston campus. A reception wias held in the library foyer. Dr. Barnett graduated from UTMB in 1953. He was a man of many "firsts" including the first African-American to serve on the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners and the first African American to be elected president of the Houston ISD Board of Trustees. Before medical school, Barnett served as a Tuskegee airman fighter pilot with the U.S. Army Air Corps. Dr. Barnett was a remarkable, gentle man and a role model and mentor to many young people. His life is an example of what men and women of character can accomplish despite obstacles. The father of five children, including Dr. Marcus Barnett who graduated from UTMB in 1984. Dr. Barnett died in a 1973 plane crash at the age of 47, leaving a wife and five children, two of whom became doctors. The university posthumously honored Barnett as a distinguished alumnus. A School of Medicine Memorial Scholarship student award is named in his honor and Clifford W. Houston, Ph.D. holds the Distinguished Professorship in microbiology and immunology endowed in Barnett's name.
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
