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| Philander Smith Campus Philander Smith Yearbook, 1954 |
Philander Smith College played a noticeable role in desegregation, especially through the political actions of Philander professors Georg and Wilma Iggers. Upon arriving in Little Rock in 1951, the Iggerses learned that the main city public library was closed to Blacks. Georg wrote a Letter to the Editor of the local newspaper advocating that Blacks be allowed access. In response the library's Board of Trustees voted unanimously to allows Blacks to use the library, although this was done quietly and without a public announcement. He also convinced the managers of local department stores to desegregate their store's water fountains.
Their work for desegregation marked the beginning of the Iggerses' involvement with the civil rights movement. Their work attracted the attention of the local chapter of the NAACP, and Georg and Wilma were soon made members. Among their activities for the NAACP, they wrote a report documenting the disparities between the whites-only and blacks-only public schools in Little Rock. This report was used to generate public pressure on the School Board to desegregation the school system. The Iggerses were hoping to also file a lawsuit based on the report, but they were dissuaded from doing so by the national office of the NAACP. At the time, the U.S. Supreme Court was considering the Brown v. the Board of Education case (which challenged the segregation of public schools), and the national office did not want to file suit until the outcome of the Brown case was clear.
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| Dorothy Martin Philander Smith Yearbook, 1954 |
Philander Smith College itself desegregated in fall 1953, the semester that Grünzweig arrived. The college enrolled its first white student, Dorothy Martin, that term. Dorothy enrolled with the explicit goal of challenging segregation. While her decision was a challenge to segregation, within the context of Arkansas politics, it was a mild one. The University of Arkansas, the state's flagship school, had admitted African Americans on a limited basis since the 1940s.
Dorothy's enrollment was reported in newspapers, and she was criticized by some white Arkansans, but there was none of the national publicity, or violent resistance, that was later seen with the desegregation of the high schools.
Dorothy's enrollment was reported in newspapers, and she was criticized by some white Arkansans, but there was none of the national publicity, or violent resistance, that was later seen with the desegregation of the high schools.
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| Philander Smith Faculty Apartments Philander Smith Yearbook, 1954 |
Grünzweig himself seems to have been largely uninvolved in politics. Instead, during his time at Philander Smith, he became increasingly involved in the profession of mathematics. In December, 1953, after his first semester of teaching at Philander, he went to St. Louis, Missouri to attend the Annual Meeting of the American Mathematical Society, the first such meeting he attended.
In Spring, 1953, Grünzweig joined the Mathematical Association of American and the American Association of Physics Teachers. He also became active regionally and was involved in the Arkansas Academy of Science.
Grünzweig continued to participate in professional meetings during the 1953-54 academic year. During the summer, he attended the Summer Meeting of the American Mathematical Society at Queen's College and the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario in Canada, and during the winter, he attended the Annual Meeting of the AMS at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. At Hopkins, Grünzweig gave a talk on "Eleven Point Conics." The eleven point conic is a classical construction of a conic with 11 distinguished points from the data of 4 general points and a line. Later in the academic year he gave a talk on his dissertation at a meeting of the Arkansas Mathematics Teacher's Association at Arkansas State University.
The Philander Smith Math and Physics Department saw considerable turnover while Grünzweig was there. By the end of his first year, all other math and physics faculty except for Charles Henry Daniels (whose primary appointment was in physical education) had left. During Grünzweig's second year, he was joined by Lillian Joyce Venable, who had just received her M.A. degree from Fisk University.
In Spring, 1953, Grünzweig joined the Mathematical Association of American and the American Association of Physics Teachers. He also became active regionally and was involved in the Arkansas Academy of Science.
Grünzweig continued to participate in professional meetings during the 1953-54 academic year. During the summer, he attended the Summer Meeting of the American Mathematical Society at Queen's College and the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario in Canada, and during the winter, he attended the Annual Meeting of the AMS at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. At Hopkins, Grünzweig gave a talk on "Eleven Point Conics." The eleven point conic is a classical construction of a conic with 11 distinguished points from the data of 4 general points and a line. Later in the academic year he gave a talk on his dissertation at a meeting of the Arkansas Mathematics Teacher's Association at Arkansas State University.
The Philander Smith Math and Physics Department saw considerable turnover while Grünzweig was there. By the end of his first year, all other math and physics faculty except for Charles Henry Daniels (whose primary appointment was in physical education) had left. During Grünzweig's second year, he was joined by Lillian Joyce Venable, who had just received her M.A. degree from Fisk University.
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| Lillian Joyce Venable From The Golden Bull Yearbook, 1950 |
Towards the end of his second year (1953-54 academic year), Grünzweig submitted his first math publication to the American Mathematical Monthly. The November 1954 issue contained the following question:
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| Problem for Solution American Mathematical Monthly, Nov., 1954 |
I will let readers puzzle through how to solve the question.
The publication is significant for a second reason as well: it marks the end of Simon Grünzweig and the beginning of Simon Green. In 1954, he stopped using the last name "Grünzweig" and instead began going by "Green." Green is a reasonable anglicization of Grünzweig which is German for "Green Branch." Grünzweig's decision to change his name was a common one: many Jewish immigrants anglicized their names during the mid-20th century. (Mathematician readers might know that Arnold Ross, for example, was born Arnold Chaimovich.)
The November issue of the American Mathematical Monthly also contained an important announcement about Grünzweig/Green: he was leaving Arkansas. At the end of his second year, he left for Tulsa, Oklahoma, bringing an end to his time at HBCUs.
The publication is significant for a second reason as well: it marks the end of Simon Grünzweig and the beginning of Simon Green. In 1954, he stopped using the last name "Grünzweig" and instead began going by "Green." Green is a reasonable anglicization of Grünzweig which is German for "Green Branch." Grünzweig's decision to change his name was a common one: many Jewish immigrants anglicized their names during the mid-20th century. (Mathematician readers might know that Arnold Ross, for example, was born Arnold Chaimovich.)
The November issue of the American Mathematical Monthly also contained an important announcement about Grünzweig/Green: he was leaving Arkansas. At the end of his second year, he left for Tulsa, Oklahoma, bringing an end to his time at HBCUs.
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| Glenn E. Smith Philander Smith Yearbook, 1955 |
L. Joyce Venable left around the same time as Grünzweig, and they were replaced by new three faculty members: Morris E. Mosley, Glenn E. Smith, and Tse-Pen Tseng. Smith was hired as instructor. He was an alumnus of Philander Smith and was returning to teach after working on a master's degree at the University of Arkansas.
Mosley, Smith, and Tseng all left Philander Smith after a year. They were replaced by Lee Lorch in 1955 and Garland D. Kyle in 1956. Kyle was returning to Philander after teaching at Arkansas AM&N and was discussed in an earlier blogpost.
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| Morris E. Mosley Graduates Book for State Teachers College at Montgomery, Alabama, 1938 |
Morris E. Mosley was hired as an associate professor. Mosley was originally from Alabama and had received his B.A. degree from State Teachers College, Alabama State College for Negroes (now Alabama State University) in 1938. In 1946, he had received his M.S. degree from Atlanta University. He wrote the master's thesis "Properties of Elastic Curve[s]."
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| Tse-Pei Tseng Philander Smith Yearbook, 1955 |
Of the three, Tse-Pen Tseng had the most unusual background. He was a Chinese national who had moved to the U.S. in 1948 for graduate studies. Tseng was born in Beijing and had studied at Yenching University. Yenching was created in the late 1910s from four Christian schools. By the time Tseng was a student there, the university had established itself as one of the best in China. The Harvard-Yenching Institute, for example, was originally founded to foster ties between Yenching and Harvard University. The university no longer exists as an independent institution, although parts of it were merged with Peking University in the 1950s.
Tseng was a student at Yenching during the 1930s, receiving a B.S. degree in 1937 and a M.S. degree in 1940. He then worked at the university, as a research fellow in 1941 and then as a lecturer from 1943 to 1948. This was a challenging time to work at Teaching: war between China and Japan broke out in 1937. Yenching had been located in Beijing, but the city became occupied by the Japanese military, and the university relocated to Chengdu.
Tseng left China for the U.S. in 1948. His departure was timely as he left just as the Chinese Civil War was coming to an end. The next year Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China.
In the U.S., Tseng studied for a year at Columbia University, and then enrolled as a PhD student at The Ohio State University. He was supervised by John Gilbert Duant and wrote a thesis "Properties of matter at very low temperatures." Tseng graduated in 1954, and his position at Philander Smith was his first.
Mosley, Smith, and Tseng all left Philander Smith after a year. They were replaced by Lee Lorch in 1955 and Garland D. Kyle in 1956. Kyle was returning to Philander after teaching at Arkansas AM&N and was discussed in an earlier blogpost.
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| Lee Lorch Philander Smith Yearbook, 1957 |
Lee Lorch was coming to Philander from Fisk University. Lorch was a math professor and a committed civil rights activist. He had been dismissed from Fisk for his political activities. In 1955, he had been called before the House Un-American Activities Committee and questioned about his relationship with Communism. This was likely a retaliatory action against Lorch for his work on desegregating public schools. Using the HUAC hearings as justification, Fisk University officials ended Lorch's contract.
Lorch continued his political activism at Philander and was involved in the Little Rock School Integration Crisis. In 1957, when Black students (the Little Rock Nine) tried to enroll at the all-white Little Rock Central High School, Lee and his wife Grace helped escort the students. The students were prevented from enrolling by the National Guard and harassed by a white mob. Grace was photographed trying to protect one of the students, Elizabeth Eckford, from harassment.
For their role in the Little Rock Crisis, Lee and Grace began receiving threats, both of personal harm and of financial harm to Philander. In response to those threats, Lee left Philander in Spring, 1957. After teaching for a year at Wesleyan University, he left the U.S. for Canada. He remained in Canada for the rest of his life.
You can listen to an interview with Lee Lorch at the website for the Holocaust Museum. He (very briefly) mentions Simon Green at the end.
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