Photo: Bob Taylor

Wednesday,
May 17, 2006
Author: 
Professor George Henderson

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OU honored distinguished faculty member George Henderson during its annual Ring Ceremony in November. Here are excerpts from the remarks he made on that occasion. Henderson is David Ross Boyd Professor and Regents’ Professor of Human Relations. He became a faculty member in 1967. In 1969, he became the first African-American professor in the state to occupy an endowed chair when he was appointed S.N. Goldman Professor of Human Relations. He became the fi rst African- American dean on OU’s Norman campus in 1996. In 2001, the university established the Henderson Scholars Program and dedicated the Henderson-Tolson Cultural Center to honor his contributions.

For almost four decades, I have watched students come to this university. And I have helped some of them to graduate. From afar, especially during commencement, I have rejoiced at each class’s many accomplishments. Not even my words “You go, boy” or “You go, girl” could convey my joy in being a small part of so many great lives. It was as though I, too, had progressed from freshman to sophomore to junior to senior — and even to master’s or doctorate. But always at the end of each vicarious journey, I felt incomplete, somewhat unfulfilled. I was with each class but never in it.

This ring symbolically fulfills me. Wow, now I feel like a full-fledged member of something wonderful: the right to tactfully and non-tactfully flash our class ring to any unsuspecting person. And one or more onlookers will probably smile and say to themselves “Gee, it sure took that old guy a long time to graduate.”

Did I ever tell the members of the class of 2006 that you are my heroes? You are! You have found ways to overcome bigotry, indifference and all the pernicious isms that divide groups. You have helped unite our family. And, yes, you’re everything I wish to be: the future yet to be made, peacemakers in waiting and Sooner pride on the prowl. Paraphrasing a famous athletic motto: Every day, you played the higher education game like champions. The Motown singers, The Temptations, sang my thoughts of you as you excelled in the classroom and outside of it: “I love the way you do the things you do.”

Together, you and I have joined hand-in-hand to make Sooner human relations magic throughout numerous global communities. Together, we have found ways to value cultural differences and celebrate our many similarities. Indeed, together, we are E Pluribus Unum: from many peoples has come one beautiful family, headed by President and Mrs. Boren.

My heart is on fire. And my soul is stirred. I thank the OU Alumni Association, President Boren and the OU Ring Association for bestowing upon me this special honor. You have taken me higher than the eagles. Today, I soar to a new emotional height. And up there with me are my wife, Barbara, our children, their children and my numerous extended family members called the Henderson Scholars and their staff, students in my courses, colleagues and friends.

Some of my days at the university have been better than others. Today is a very good day. And for this I will always be grateful.

This unique and very special university defies verbal descriptions. But I shall try. It is a long storied tradition of people joining arms and minds to seek out better ways to uncover knowledge and apply it to create better communities. And the class ring has many meanings. To me, it represents an umbilical cord of caring about something greater than myself. Therefore, it is part of my foundation of life.

The ring reminds me that our university is like life itself: full of mysteries and pleasures and trials and, of course, personal transitions. I cannot love this place more. Nor shall I love it less.

In the twilight of my career, precious moments fade in and out of my mind like an old time movie. But this day will be etched crystal clear in my memory. I will always think about those of you here with a fondness that was cogently captured in these lines of Frank Yerby’s poem “You are a Part of Me”: “I shall never know regret…knowing that no magic ever can set free that part of you that is a part of me.”

Yes…this little ring of mine, I’m gonna let it shine…let it shine, let it shine…let it shine.

Thanks for the memory.