Flowers, John Garland

Dates

• Existence: 1895 October 17 - 1965 February 23

Biography

John G. Flowers was born on October 17, 1895 and grew up southwest of San Antonio. He attended the Southwest Texas State Normal School (now Texas State University) in 1912-13 and in 1915, becoming Texas State’s only alumnus president. Flowers taught in Texas public schools before he eventually earned a BA from East Texas State College (1924) and master’s (1925) and doctoral (1932) degrees at Columbia University.

He held faculty and administrative positions in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He brought a wealth of higher education experience and a national perspective when he came back home as Texas State’s third president in 1942. Flowers led a fragile institution during World War II, but thereafter developed and implemented the first master plan. At the beginning of his 22-year presidency due to World War II, enrollment dipped to 876 but then grew during his presidency to 3,850; the college acquired 55 new pieces of property; the value of college property increased seven fold; and his Spanish colonial architecture became distinctive. Personally concerned about students with special needs, he developed special graduate programs. The college dropped “teachers” from its name and became a multi-purpose regional college. As Flowers presidency ended, Texas State admitted its first five African American students, reversing decades of segregation. He retired in 1964 because of ill health and died the following year on February 23, 1965 in Harlingen.

In February 2021, President Trauth convened the Scholars Task Force, comprised of scholars in history, sociology, political science, and library studies, to undertake a scholarly analysis of the historical facts about and contexts of the lives and careers of Sallie Beretta and Flowers, namesakes of two buildings on the San Marcos Campus. The task force produced a report titled "Historical Background and Context: Sallie Ward Beretta and John Garland Flowers."

A Review and Recommendations Task Force in September 2021, comprised of students, alumni, faculty, and staff, to review the report and make recommendations based on its contents. The Task Force recommended retaining the name Flowers on the building named after former Texas State president John Garland Flowers based, in part, on the facts that: 
1) Support of continued segregation was imposed by the Board of Regents and Texas Attorney General and beyond Flowers’ control; 
2) Flowers attempted to work within parameters of the law as well as assist students as he could; and
3) Other Texas universities were subject to the same impositions from Boards of Regents and the Texas Attorney Generals.

See also:
Brennan, Mary C. et al. "Historical Background and Context: Sallie Ward Beretta and John Garland Flowers," Texas State University, accessed January 28, 2022, https://inclusion.txstate.edu/resources/historical-background.html

Derrick, L. E. “Flowers, John Garland,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed January 28, 2022, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/flowers-john-garland.

Vaverek, Margaret. “Scholars Task Force Resources Library Guide,” University Libraries, Texas State University, accessed January 28, 2022, https://guides.library.txstate.edu/scholars.

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