The Bluebonnet 1947 African Americana,Education,HBCUs

10¾" x 8". Embossed blue cloth over boards. Pp. [72]. Very good: cloth frayed and worn at corners and spine tips; first few leaves with moderate spotting; 2" tear just affecting the edge of one image; a bit of light foxing. This is a rare and photographically illustrated yearbook for Tillotson College, the first HBCU and first institution of higher learning in Austin, Texas. Tillotson was chartered in 1877 by the American Missionary Society of Congregational Churches and opened in 1881. In 1952 it merged with Samuel Huston College to become Huston-Tillotson University. The prestigious HBCU boasts several notable associations, including former presidents Mary Elizabeth Branch and Karl Downs, and alumni such as civil rights activist and politician Juanita Craft and Dr. Herman Barnett III, the first Black medical school graduate in Texas. While filled with standard yearbook fare, this issue of The Bluebonnet is especially heavy on photographic images, most of which are large, well-composed and artistically inclined. There are individual portraits of the faculty (two-thirds African American women), senior and junior students, and groups of lower classes. Twelve pages of fantastic shots show "Tillotson in action," with the NAACP chapter, "Co-Ed Council," bands and sports teams, clubs, societies, students in classes and "at play." Three pages of large images were devoted to the drama club and their productions, three to the "Beaux and Belles," and seven to Greek life, with great group shots as well as the artsy incorporation of headshots into letters. A fantastic yearbook for a noted HBCU. OCLC shows holdings of The Bluebonnet only at Huston-Tillotson; they have a total of four, including this year's issue.