Melvin B. Tolson

Poet, professor, and playwright Melvin Beaunorus Tolson was born on February 6, 1898 in Kansas City, Missouri, to Rev. Alonzo Tolson, a Methodist minister, and Lera Ann (Hurt) Tolson. He graduated from high school in Kansas City in 1918 and earned a Bachelor’s degree in English from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1923. In 1924, he began teaching at Wiley College in Marshall, where he remained until 1947. There he taught English and Speech, created the award-winning Wiley Forensic Society debate team, co-founded the Intercollegiate Southern Association of Dramatic and Speech Arts, directed the theater club, and coached junior varsity football. The debate team drew large crowds and won major contests, including victories over England’s Oxford University in 1933 and the University of Southern California in 1935, the national champions that year. Several of his students later became influential civil rights activists, including James L. Farmer, Jr., Fred Lewis, and Heman Sweatt. From 1937 to 1944, he wrote a regular Washington Tribune column, “Caviar and Cabbages,” largely based on African American life. In 1947, he left Wiley College for Langston University in Oklahoma. His poetry and other writings continued to receive acclaim, and he served as Mayor of Langston from 1954 to 1962. He died on August 29, 1966, and was remembered as an orator, writer, and educator who inspired others to prevail.

Marshall, Texas · United States