More than 100 family members, friends, community activists and University faculty members gathered Friday to celebrate the life of John Lewis Warfield, creator of the Center for African and African-American Studies.
Warfield passed away on Oct. 25 in Kalamazoo, Mich. The 71-year-old suffered from Parkinson's disease. The center hosted the memorial at the Thompson Conference Center.
Gatherers spoke for nearly four hours about "Doc's" contributions to civil rights advancements at the University and in the Austin community.
"When we thought about the notion of community engagement, he is the very epitome and example of what we mean by connecting the resources of the University to the needs of the community," said Gregory Vincent, vice president for diversity and community engagement.
Marcus Brown, a UT alumnus and past president of the Black Student Alliance, remembered taking an African history class Warfield taught during his 26-year term at the University.
"He dealt with the question of the 'why,' and in doing so he was able to peel back the mystery and the history of white supremacy in the modern world," Brown said. "He presented us with historical records, writings and facts of how the myth was created and how it evolved. When people say information is power, this was powerful information."
Warfield helped start the Pecan Springs Integrated Neighborhood Association in northeast Austin. He also had a part in founding the community radio station KAZI 88.7 and the Austin branch of the Black Citizens Task Force.
Retired state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos and retired state Rep. Wilhelmina Delco sent letters to be read at the memorial. Delco was in attendance.
Linda Lewis, a friend of Warfield's, read the letters and relayed Barrientos' thanks for Warfield's efforts in connecting him to the Austin's black community during his election campaign. Barrientos wrote that Warfield was instrumental in helping to elect two minorities from Austin to the Texas Legislature.
"Had John Warfield not been there, there's no telling when minorities might have had that opportunity," Barrientos wrote.
Warfield created the Center for African and African-American Studies in 1973 and served as its director until 1986.
A petition is in front of President William Powers to rename the center the John L. Warfield Center for African and African-American Studies, said Edmund Gordon, co-director of the center.
Gordon quoted Warfield as having said, "I thrive on the need for social change. I consider myself a scholar-activist."
Warfield's wife Jan, son Jabari and daughter Njeri Johnson were in attendance. Charles Warfield remembered his brother's early community involvement while getting his doctorate in psychology at the University of Oregon.
Charles Warfield said his brother acted as a mediator for the University of Oregon and campus organizations, including the controversial Students for a Democratic Society and the Black Panthers. He recalled accompanying his brother on some of these mediating sessions.
"John would go back historically and buttress what he thought ought to happen," Charles Warfield said. John Warfield participated in intellectual discussions with students about why things needed to change, Charles Warfield said, "but he would also take the position that if you don't know your history, if you don't know the rationale for what you're getting ready to do, you're just doing something."
Charles Warfield said his brother pushed the idea of changing systems.
"The system, the way it was, made black people look at themselves in a way that was not healthy," Charles Warfield said. "So he said if we can change the system, we can begin to break that notion of the way we look at ourselves. That's why he was so involved with community - because he knew that community had to understand and look at the world a different way."
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