Dwight Watson
Associate Professor Emeritus
Office: TMH 109
Email: dw25@txstate.edu
Phone: 512.245.2241
Educational Background
Ph.D.- University of Houston
M.A.- Texas Southern University
B.A.- Henderson State University
Recent Research Topics :
Black Bayou: African-American Life and Civil Rights in Houston. (book)
Almost the Law: African American Policing in Houston (article)
Dwight D. Watson is an Associate Professor of History at Texas State University. His specializations include African American History and the Civil Rights Movement. He is interested in how race and law impact United State History. His hobbies are cooking, fly fishing, woodworking and reading.
Dr. Watson is the Special Assistant to the President for Minority Affairs and Founder of the Neighborhood Mentoring Program for Minority Students.
Awards and Accomplishments:
NEH Grant
Research and Sponsored Program Grant
Professional Memberships:
Southern Historical Association
Texas State Historical Association
The Association for African American History and Life
Select Publications
Race and the Houston Police Department: A Change Did Come. (2006)
In the name of Progress and Decency: The Response of Houston’s Civic Leaders to the Lynching of Robert Powell in 1928. (article)
Courses Taught
HIST 1310 | History of the US to 1877
A general survey of the history of the United States from its settlement to the end of Reconstruction.
HIST 1320 | History of the US Since 1877
A general survey of the history of the United States from Reconstruction to present.
HIST 3359 | African American History
This course is designed as an advanced introductory study of African American History. It places and explains African American history within the context of the development of the United States History. Thus, African American history is an integral part national history, rather than a detached independent set of events that have no bearing on the nations development. This course is a semester long lecture and discussion seminar that demands interactive classroom participation from the students.
HIST 3368O | Desegregation of the South
This course will address the history and the historiography of the struggle to desegregate the South from 1944-1970s. It will provide the student with a historical analysis of the significant issues and events that led from the origins of Jim Crow segregation through end of legal segregation.
HIST 4375B | African American Experience in Texas
The history of Texas of bold rich and diverse. This course will tap into the richness of the Texas history and life through intensive readings and research in black life in Texas. Using a topical and thematic approach, we will explore the struggle for voting rights in the late 19th and 20th century; the rise of Jim Crow and the use of violence as a method of social control; urban life for blacks in selected Texas cities; desegregation of higher education and civil rights in Texas and the use of biography as a tool of history. This combination of methodologies will give the student a general knowledge of each topical area. This is a research, reading and discussion class
HIST 5345E | African History
This course is an intensive readings and research seminar in African American History. Through the use of biography’s and community studies each student will be introduced to the different methodologies that have created the myriad of historical interpretations and reinterpretations. From biographies you will get a glimpse into the lives, events and stories that shaped the historiography. Community studies offer us a multiple methodological approach to understanding specific issues and events that led to the end of legal segregation.
HIST 5346 | African American History
This course is an intensive readings and research seminar in African American History. It focuses on biographies, community studies, court cases and the impact of race and law in American society. Each student will be introduced to the different methodologies that have created the myriad of historical interpretations and reinterpretations. From biographies you will get a glimpse into the lives, events and stories that shaped the historiography. The studies on race and law offer us a multiple methodological approach to understanding specific issues, court cases, and events that led to the end of legal segregation and the birth and decline of Affirmative Action.