Huston–Tillotson University
private historically black university in Austin, Texas

Huston–Tillotson University (HT) is a private historically Black university in Austin, Texas, United States. Established in 1875, it was the first institution of higher learning in Austin. The university is affiliated with the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, and the United Negro College Fund. Huston–Tillotson University awards bachelor's degrees in business, education, the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, science, and technology and a master's degree in educational leadership. It also offers alternative teacher certification and academic programs for undergraduates interested in pursuing post-graduate degrees in law and medicine.
History
Huston–Tillotson University began with the 1952 merger of two earlier schools: "Tillotson College" and "Samuel Huston College".
"Tillotson Collegiate and Normal Institute" was chartered as a coeducational school in 1877 by the American Missionary Society of Congregational churches and its namesake, George Jeffrey Tillotson. It opened on January 17, 1881, and had 12 presidents: William E. Brooks, first president (1881-85), John Hershaw (1886), Henry L. Hubbell (1886-1889), William M. Brown (1889-93), Winfield S. Goss (1894-95), Marshall R. Gaines (1896-1904), Arthur W. Partch (1905-06), Isaac M. Agard (1907-18), and Francis W. Fletcher (1919-23). J. T. Hodges, the first African American to be president (1924-29), was followed by Mary E. Branch (1930-44) and William H. Jones (1944)." Tillotson College was a women's college from 1926 to 1935.
"Samuel Huston College" developed out of an 1876 Methodist Episcopal conference.
“Huston–Tillotson University” enters the record as private historically black university in Austin, Texas. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Huston, Tillotson and University can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Huston–Tillotson University” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Huston, Tillotson and University provides the most credible route into that argument.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3143507. VIAF identifies the subject as 145789476. The Library of Congress control number is no2006100499. Authority coordinates are 30.265, -97.722. 3 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1875, 1952, 1877 and 1881.
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This entry incorporates text from “Huston–Tillotson University” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.