PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (March 21, 2024) – In a beautiful celebration of history, courage and the arts, Prairie View A&M University unveiled the prestigious Bench by the Road monument in a rousing program on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, in the Opal Johnson Smith Auditorium. The event marked the beginning of Inauguration Week for PVAMU’s ninth president, Dr. Tomikia P. LeGrande.
The Toni Morrison Society Bench by the Road Project aims to commemorate significant moments, individuals and locations within the history of the African Diaspora by placing benches and plaques at various sites worldwide.
The PVAMU Toni Morrison Writing Program, housed within the Marvin D. and June Samuel Brailsford College of Arts and Sciences, obtained the monument by submitting an application that highlighted the historical importance of Matthew Gaines and William H. Holland, two nineteenth-century Texas State legislators, born into slavery, who were instrumental in the establishment of Prairie View A&M University.
“Memory possesses the heritage and identity of a community,” said Dr. Merline Pitre, professor of history, emerita, at Texas Southern University, who served as a speaker at the ceremony. “Memory comes together in objects, sights, monuments, buildings, and, yes, benches.
“It was because those two men were sitting at the table that we have Prairie View today,” said Dr. Pitre. “You must remember the facts because when one is happy in forgetfulness, facts are forgotten.”
PVAMU Bench Origin
In a moving address during the unveiling ceremony, Dr. E. Joahanne Thomas-Smith, Provost Emerita and Director of the Toni Morrison Writing Program, opened her remarks with the lyrics of Louis Armstrong’s “Go Down Moses.”
She said that when Dr. LeGrande arrived at PVAMU as the University’s ninth president, she “embraced the history of this place.”
“She could see the phenomenal contract between the little school founded on a former plantation in Waller County and what she had come to lead, which is a land grant university,” said Dr. Thomas-Smith, “an institution of the first class, a Carnegie Research II university, but more than that, the bedrock of the middle class among Black and low-income people.”
However, Dr. LeGrande believed more could be done to “show the world the jewel, the treasure, the citadel on a hill,” that is PVAMU.
“Didn’t we appreciate, celebrate, elevate our two Moseses, Holland and Gaines?” said Dr. Thomas-Smith.
Without Holland and Gaines, there would be no PVAMU, no “proud producer of productive people,” she said. The conversation between Drs. LeGrande and Thomas-Smith led to a challenge from the new president to the Toni Morrison Writing Program: apply for a Bench by the Road monument for PVAMU.
With the help of Dr. Malachi Crawford, PVAMU associate professor of history and program coordinator, who researched the history presented in the application to the Toni Morrison Society, PVAMU became the newest home for a Bench by the Road.
“We were ecstatic when Dr. Carolyn Denard, founder of the Toni Morrison Society, and Dr. [Craig] Stutman, chair of the Bench by the Road Project, notified the University that PVAMU’s Toni Morrison Writing program had succeeded in acquiring what would be the 33rd distinguished Bench by the Road,” said Dr. Thomas-Smith.
Why a Bench?
The Bench by the Road Project serves as a memorial, history and community outreach endeavor. Launched on Feb. 18, 2006, in honor of Toni Morrison’s 75th birthday, the project takes its name from Morrison’s poignant remarks during her acceptance speech of the 1988 Frederic G. Melcher Book Award for her novel Beloved.
Discussing the absence of historical markers commemorating the lives of enslaved Africans and their progeny born into slavery, Morrison reflected on the symbolic role her novel played.
“There is no place you or I can go, to think about or not think about, to summon the presences of, or recollect the absences of slaves,” said Morrison. “There is no suitable memorial, or plaque, or wreath, or wall, or park, or skyscraper lobby…And because such a place doesn’t exist, the book had to.”
Inspired by Morrison’s vision of remembrance and engagement with African American history, the Toni Morrison Society adopted “A Bench by the Road” as its motto upon its founding in 1993. Launched in 2006, the Bench by the Road Project furthers this mission by aiming to address Morrison’s lament, placing benches and plaques at sites commemorating significant moments, individuals and locations within the history of the African Diaspora.
Since its inception, the project has placed 33 benches at various sites, including Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina; Walden Woods in Lincoln, Massachusetts; The 20th Arrondissement in Paris, France; the Schomburg Center in Harlem, New York; the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.; and now PVAMU.
Being the 33rd Bench, the PVAMU monument signifies its own historical importance by recognizing history, resilience and freedom of education thanks to those who helped set the stage for the University’s success.
Honoring Roots
The PVAMU Bench by the Road stands proudly in front of the Holland and Gaines Memorial Student Park, nestled at the junction of R. B. Evans St. and L. W. Minor St. The location, opposite the Student Recreation Center and the Willie A. Tempton, Sr., Memorial Student Center, has been chosen for its deep historical significance.
The Bench commemorates the University’s visionaries Gaines and Holland—the park’s namesakes. Their influential contributions as Texas State legislators during the Reconstruction Era led to the establishment of the Alta Vista Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas for Colored Youth on August 14, 1876, which became PVAMU.
The streets bordering the park hold their own historical weight. Reda Bland Evans, born in 1913, left an indelible mark on the University community as both a mathematics instructor and Dean of Women for an impressive four decades. A devoted member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Evans’s legacy and impact on young women remains an integral part of the University’s fabric.
L.W. Minor, hailing from Mississippi, assumed the esteemed role of PVAMU’s first principal, setting a high standard of excellence for the institution. Despite daunting obstacles, Minor successfully recruited eight students into the University’s inaugural class—two more than the first class of the all-white state-supported school, Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (Texas A&M), which was founded two years earlier.
A Strong Bench
Speaking to the audience following the unveiling of the monument, Dr. LeGrande expressed gratitude to the PVAMU Toni Morrison Writing Program and everyone who contributed to obtaining the 33rd Bench by the Road. She extended her appreciation for the remarkable ceremony and recognized the program’s role in introducing students to prominent African American writers and artists of today.
“Dr. Thomas-Smith and colleagues, I must tell you, this program was fantastic,” she said. “It highlights the best of our institution, our history, and our students. I know that, as a leader, in order to think about where an organization or a people should go, you must first start with where they have been.”
Emphasizing the significance of the unveiling of the monument as the first event of the week’s inauguration activities, Dr. LeGrande wove the University’s depth of heritage with current achievements and the prospective brilliance awaiting the school in the future.
“The Toni Morrison Bench marks our significant and impactful history while also shining a bright light on the transformative power of this place: Prairie View A&M University,” she said. “Excellence lives at Prairie View A&M University. It always has, and it always will.”
By Kerry Laird
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