Sunny Nash ’77: A Skip Leabo memory

Sunny wrote this for the family and kindly permits it to be published here too:

My name is Sunny Nash '77, author of "Bigmama Didn't Shop At Woolworth's," Texas A&M University Press.

I am the first black woman, maybe the first black student, to receive a journalism degree from Texas A&M. Skip was my first advisor and my first academic contact with the Department. He made the difference in my attending the University and continuing to graduation. He was the bright spot in many of my sometimes dark days in a place that didn't seem to want me.

In those early days, shortly after the great push of the Civil Rights Movement but before racial entitlements and the entrenchment of academic affirmative action, Skip seemed to have something to prove about race and I do not mind that he used me to make his point. In 1975, he asked me compete for a scholarship from a major Texas newspaper, which I won. I had been afraid to submit my application. I thought I would not be considered because I was black.

Skip said, "They don't know what color you are. Need a stamp?"

I will never forget Skip. Please pass this along to his family.
Regards,
Sunny Nash
www.sunnynash.com