Despite many obstacles, Robert Gilbert offered “no excuses” when he found himself at the forefront of enacting racial integration and advancing civil rights in Waco. His efforts left an indelible mark on the city and Baylor University.
He was born on December 27, 1941, the fourth child of the Rev. B. F. Gilbert and his wife, Fannie Mae. The Gilbert household prized faith in God, education, and community service. Attending Waco’s segregated schools, Gilbert wanted to be a lawyer advancing the rights of African Americans. After graduating from A. J. Moore High School in 1960, he enrolled at Paul Quinn College. Following several years of study at Paul Quinn, Gilbert and his teachers realized a future legal career required he obtain a degree from Baylor University, which had only recently—in November 1963—voted to integrate.
Administrative and legal decisions do not generate immediate cultural change, a reality that confronted Gilbert as he began his studies at Baylor in summer 1965. The alienation and animosity he felt as a child growing up near the campus continued to form a large part of his experience as a student. He experienced isolation from his classmates, and while some faculty treated him with dignity, others proved overtly racist. Gilbert majored in history, which he enjoyed, but he soon acknowledged that a legal career was increasingly unlikely. For most of his adolescence, Gilbert resisted pastoral ministry, but soon the call to preach became too acute to ignore. In addition, doctors advised him that his poor health could not handle the stresses of practicing law.
Since the age of fourteen, Gilbert suffered from various types of arthritis that left him in constant pain and with impaired mobility. In his teens, it proved manageable with only an occasional flare-up. However, in July 1963, his condition deteriorated rapidly. Gilbert recovered and returned to college, though he now required a cane for support. Later on, joint deterioration led to numerous surgeries and eventually put him in a wheelchair. The visible specter of his arthritis plagued Gilbert for his entire life, but it also became the source of his testimony and vocation. Grappling with his arthritis proved God’s way of grabbing hold of Gilbert, calling him to a life of ministry and teaching, as well as instilling in him the faith and endurance required to overcome all impediments that lay ahead.
Gilbert’s faith-filled perseverance equipped him to break barriers and gave him an unquenchable thirst for justice. On June 2, 1967, Robert Gilbert became the first African American student to graduate from Baylor. By virtue of alphabetical order, Gilbert preceded his classmate Barbara Walker, who that day became Baylor’s first female African American graduate. After his graduation, Gilbert continued pioneering as the first black teacher at the all-white Tennyson Middle School. Another first included his summer role as assistant director of Baylor’s Upward Bound program to help train low-income students for college. Gilbert carried on all this work while also actively engaging in pastoral ministry.
To enrich his ministry, Gilbert returned to Baylor in 1970 to pursue a graduate degree in religion. However, another devastating turn in his health in 1971 left him unable to finish his studies, but not to pastor. He succeeded his father into the pulpits of Baptist churches in Bremond and Chilton, before in 1978, beginning a more than decade-long ministry at Waco’s Carver Park Missionary Baptist Church. Under his leadership, the congregation grew exponentially. Gilbert’s dynamic sermons and visible witness attracted people to him and to the gospel. His life held the power to convict and inspire, not only the people in his congregations, but all Wacoans as well.
The 1970s saw Gilbert take up his trailblazing mantel and use his status in the community to advocate for civil rights. Upset about the glacial pace of integration in Waco schools after the 1954 Brown decision, Gilbert served as the plaintiff in the NAACP case against the Waco Independent School District. His suit, combined with a similar case from Waco’s Hispanic community, became the 1973 Arvizu v. Waco ISD decision mandating the integration of several racially identifiable schools in Waco. In 1976, he was elected the first black member of Waco’s school board. Outside of education, Gilbert helmed the Association for Selective Career Opportunities that aimed to advance the hiring of minorities in fields where they were underrepresented. His experiences at the forefront of integration made him a catalyst for creating opportunities for other African Americans in Waco.
When he died on November 11, 1992, Robert Gilbert left a rich legacy of ministry and activism. In the last years of his life, through pain and numerous health struggles, he maintained his pastoral ministry, while also advocating for Waco and Baylor to diversify hiring. Today Gilbert’s communities honor his impact. For example, the Waco NAACP awards scholarships to high school graduates named for the Gilbert family. Captured by his 1988 autobiography title, No Excuses Accepted, Gilbert believed everyone was capable of achieving their goals, no matter the impediments. Grounded in faith and in pursuit of justice, he testified to that belief with his life, calling others to do the same.
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]]>Known throughout the nation for his pitching prowess, Andy Cooper made a name for himself at a time when segregation placed limits on black baseball.
Now known as the nation’s pastime, baseball has captivated Americans since the early nineteenth century. But prior to the 1940s, blacks could not play in either of the major leagues or their respective farm systems. African Americans instead formed their own teams and eventually created their own leagues. The Negro National League (NNL), formed in 1920, lasted until 1931 and was soon followed by the Negro American League in 1937. Andrew “Andy” Lewis Cooper had a successful career in both of these leagues, playing for both Detroit and Kansas City.
Born in Waco in 1898, Cooper grew up in the city and attended A. J. Moore High School and Paul Quinn College. The date of his birth is often debated, since his draft certificate states that he was born in 1897, while his birth certificate reads 1898.
Cooper first played for the Dallas Black Giants in 1919 before making the jump to Detroit. He made his debut with the Detroit Stars in 1920 and played for them until 1927, after which he was traded to the Kansas City Monarchs. Known as one of the best pitchers in baseball, Cooper was traded for five players. He played one season with the Monarchs before rejoining the Stars in 1930. In 1931, he returned to the Monarchs and continued to play there until 1939.
Cooper was known as one of the best pitchers in baseball and was recognized for his absolute control over every one of his pitches, including a fastball, curveball, and screwball. His knowledge of batters’ weaknesses gave him one of the best records in the business. Cooper eventually transitioned from a starter to a successful relief pitcher. By the end of his playing career he posted a 116-57 record and held the NNL record for saves with 29. Cooper became player manager of the Monarchs in 1937, when they joined the Negro American League, and by 1940 he had led Kansas City to three championships. Cooper’s last appearance as a player in 1939 was with the Monarchs.
Andy Cooper did not always play in a Negro league. During the early twentieth century, many African American ballplayers turned to barnstorming—the practice of traveling around the world to play exhibition matches—instead of professional baseball. In 1927, financial difficulties led to pay cuts in Negro baseball and a contract-jumping ban was put in place to prevent players from switching leagues or leaving their team. Cooper decided to test the ban by joining the Philadelphia Royal Giants, a traveling team. His first barnstorming trip took him as far as Japan and Honolulu. When he returned to the NNL, he was assessed a thirty-day suspension and a $200 fine for contract-jumping. Cooper’s second barnstorming trip occurred during the off-season while the Monarchs played in an independent league following the dissolution of the NNL. That trip took him to Japan, the Philippines, Korea, and China.
Cooper continued to coach Kansas City until 1941, when he suffered a stroke during the preseason. He went home to Waco to recover but died from a heart attack on June 3rd of that year. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in East Waco.
Cooper died only a few years before the beginning of the integration of baseball with the signing of Jackie Robinson by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1946. Although he never saw integration, Cooper left a lasting legacy on the sport, eventually recognized by the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 2006, a special committee selected Andrew Cooper and several other African American players for induction into the Hall of Fame, ensuring that his legacy as a phenomenal player, smart manager, and inspiring mentor continues on.
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]]>An African American-owned hotel during the period of segregation and Jim Crow laws, the College View Court-Hotel provided respite for black travelers on the road.
The College View Court-Hotel offered guests modern comfort with its thirty-five air-conditioned rooms and tiled bathrooms. Owned by Dr. J. W. Yancy II, president of Paul Quinn College from 1939 to 1942, the hotel operated throughout the 1950s and continued well into the late 1970s during a time of dramatic expansion in highway travel. Automobile ownership boomed in the post-World War II period. Advances in technology made cars increasingly reliable for long distance travel as well as more affordable to larger portions of society, including the emerging black middle class.
African Americans saw the mobility and freedom that highway travel offered as especially attractive. Despite the opportunities opened up by new technology and expanded infrastructure, travel still required extensive planning since many businesses refused to serve non-white citizens. The emergence of motels such as the College View Court-Hotel in the mid-twentieth century provided some relief. The College View offered convenient and affordable lodging to African Americans on the road. The amenities at motor lodges such as this one—such as the way rooms opened into the parking lot, or the offering of separate cabins for each family—made travel more accessible.
The Negro Motorist Green Book served as a vital guidebook for African American travelers. The College View Court-Hotel first appeared in the Green Book publication in 1951 and continued to appear in the updated edition throughout the 1950s and 1960s. It was The Green Book’s mission to “give the Negro traveler information that will keep him from running into difficulties, embarrassments and to make his trips more enjoyable,” in spite of harsh Jim Crow laws. It was an essential tool for the black traveler facing strict segregation.
The College View Court-Hotel stood as a symbol of the black middle class in Waco, serving African Americans who embraced travel throughout the country in spite of its difficulties. Yancy owned the hotel until it eventually closed and was razed in the 1970s. It is likely that decreased business following integration contributed to the motel’s closure. Today, visitors can still see the center steps and concrete landscape walls of the hotel at the business’s former address, 1129 Elm Avenue in Waco.
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