Paul Quinn College exhibit highlights HBCU legacy

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - A new exhibit at Dallas Love Field Airport showcases the history and legacy of Paul Quinn College, Texas’s first historically Black college and university.

The “We Over Me—The Legacy of Paul Quinn College” display in the Southwest Airlines terminal features prominent graduates and tells the story of the institution that opened in 1872 in the basement of Metropolitan A.M.E Church in Austin.

Dr. Bess Carpenter-Dunner, a Paul Quinn graduate and board member, visited the exhibit with her family and husband Jeff, also an alumnus.

“The most important thing about Paul Quinn has always been that it served the under-served,” Bess Carpenter-Dunner said.

From Austin to Waco to Dallas

The school opened about seven years after emancipation with the purpose of educating former slaves and their descendants. Originally called the Connectional School for the Education of Negro Youth, it taught trades and skills to help students survive in the post-slavery era.

The institution relocated to McLennan County as Waco College in 1877. Texas chartered it as Paul Quinn College in 1881, naming it after Bishop Paul William Quinn, whose leadership helped acquire land and expand curriculum and faculty.

The college became a prominent part of elevating the Black community and building its middle class, with a focus on education. It produced African American teachers for area schools.

“Paul Quinn in Waco has supplied educators for many years,” said Jeff Dunner, who taught in Texas for 33 years. “Most of the teachers at every school, if they were African American, and even some white. I went to school here with some white. So, Paul Quinn College affects everybody in Waco. If you didn’t go here, you probably had classes under someone that went here.”

Notable graduates featured

The exhibit highlights several accomplished alumni, including State Representative Toni Rose, the first Paul Quinn graduate to serve in the Texas legislature, and Kevin Kelly, who owns Kitchen and Cocktails restaurants in multiple cities including Dallas, Chicago, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Charlotte and Miami.

Other featured graduates include attorney Nuru Witherspoon and Hiawatha Williams, who created Williams Chicken.

Dr. Michael Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn College, said the school continues to produce exceptional graduates.

“If you look at people.. just everywhere you turn are doing very interesting and phenomenal things. And we are very proud of that,” Sorrell said. “And the best part about it is we have a whole new group coming up after them that are going to be even more extraordinary.”

Move to Dallas and continued mission

In 1990, the college relocated from Waco to Dallas, where it remains today with the same mission it had when slavery ended.

“Historically black colleges and universities were created with a challenge that no one else has ever faced in this country,” Sorrell said. “It was, ‘how do you take those 3 million individuals who are now free and teach them how to be functioning members of our society?’ And that’s an extraordinarily difficult task. And yet HBCUs did it.”

The black, private, faith-based school continues as a small but strong institution.

“This political climate has shown us that it’s important. It’s important for our history. It’s important going forth that we understand what their assignment is,” Bess Dunner said. “And the assignment is to keep pushing. And that’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna keep hope alive.”

The old Waco campus now houses Rapaport Academy Public School’s high school campus and a city community, and multipurpose center, where alumni like the Dunners can visit and reminisce.

The couple said as ambassadors, it will continue to sing the praises of their beloved Al Mata with hopes to continue inspiring the next generation of legends.