THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

African and African Diaspora Studies Department

Black and Latino Studies Building 3rd Floor E3400 Austin, TX 78712
March 10, 2015
Dear Black Studies Community:
On Wednesday, 6 May 2015, at 5pm, Black Studies in conjunction with the Office of the President
will have a reception to dedicate the building. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend.
It is my privilege to share the news: the building formerly known as Black and Latino Studies (BLS) has
been renamed: it is now the Gordon White Building (GWB).
The new name honors Drs. Susan G. and Edmund W. Gordon who are the parents of the AADS
chair, Dr. Edmund T. Gordon and Charles and Fran White. Dr. Susan Gordon is a retired
pediatrician, professor, and activist; Dr. Edmund Gordon is a retired professor and activist. The
Gordons were lifelong friends and intellectual compatriots with artist-activist Charles White and
teacher-activist Fran White.
Drs. Gordon generously donated their collection of artworks by White as well as Dr. E.W. Gordon's
papers to Black Studies. In an effort to strengthen institutional partnerships, the artworks will be
stored at the Blanton Museum of Art, and the Archive will be stored at Benson Library.
I encourage you to visit the exhibit Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties, currently on view at
Blanton Museum of Art, where you may view White's Awaken from the Unknowing, one of the newly
gifted works.
It is my honor to have seen these momentous developments to completion; they are the result of
considerable effort and collaboration on the part of many people which, I hope, will continue into the
future.
Sincerely,

Cherise Smith, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Art History & African and African Diaspora Studies
Director, Warfield Center for African and African American Studies
Affiliate, Center for Mexican American Studies