Hale Hall, Rudolph Hall, and Torrence Hall

These buildings honor three of the most significant figures in TSU history. In front of you is Hale Hall, a residence hall named for Hattie Ewing Hodgkins Hale—the first First Lady of Tennessee A&I. Hale was a native Nashvillian and brilliant student—graduating from Pearl High School at the age of sixteen and Fisk University in 1911. In 1912, she became one of Tennessee A&I’s founding faculty members and the following year, the wife of its first president, William Jasper Hale. She taught in the Commercial Department, which offered classes in business, public policy, secretarial skills, and other related subjects. Hale was also very active in the Black Women’s Club movement, including the Forward Quest Club that focused on the role of women in the uplift of the African American community. For over thirty years, Hale was a favorite of students—remembered for her intellect, grace, and sense of style.

To the right of Hale Hall is another dormitory, named for another very important woman. Rudolph Hall is named for Wilma Ruldolph, TSU’s most famous Tigerbelle track star and Olympic champion. Her journey is a testament to the power of hard work and determination. As a young child, Rudolph was diagnosed with polio. For years she wore a leg brace and endured painful therapy sessions at Meharry Medical College. At the age of twelve, Rudolph regained her ability to walk. Still, no one could have guessed that she would become one of the most inspirational athletes of the twentieth century. While a sophomore at TSU, Rudolph set a world record in the 200-yard dash. Then in 1960, she competed in the Olympic Games held in Rome, Italy. Rudolph became the first woman ever to earn three gold medals in a single Olympiad.

To the right of Rudolph Hall, you will see the Andrew Torrence Engineering Building, named after the school’s third president. Torrence was a 1948 graduate of Tennessee A&I and became president of the newly renamed Tennessee State University in 1968. His leadership was immediately tested as he balanced the interests of students active in the Civil Rights movement and the more traditional administration. In an early address, Torrence remarked: “We cannot be passive about [students’] interests and cannot condemn them for rejecting outmoded methods and ideas and for wanting to change situations for the better.”

Torrence was also confronted with the effect of racial integration as segregated white institutions opened their doors to African Americans in the late 1960s. Many believed that the state planned to merge TSU, historically black, with the predominantly white University of Tennessee-Nashville. Instead, faculty member Rita Sanders Geier sued the state’s university system in 1968. Her legal team argued that the state maintained two separate and unequal public institutions in Nashville with TSU receiving less funding for faculty and facilities. The suit lasted over thirty years and culminated in the Geier Consent Decree in 2001, which resulted in “a $23 million windfall to TSU and a total of more than $41 million distributed among other state institutions.” As a result, the merger went the other way with TSU assuming control of UT-Nashville’s Avon Williams Campus. TSU remains the city’s only public four-year university.

Return to the other side of Alameda Avenue at the circular brick in-laid sidewalk. Begin walking back toward the center of campus. The next stop has two parts, with one immediately on your left and the other along the intersecting sidewalk on your right.