Texas Originals

Thomas Freeman

June 27, 1919–June 6, 2020

Debate coach Thomas Freeman’s motto was "what we do, we do well; what we don’t do well, we don’t do at all." Freeman mentored well, nurturing generations of Texas Southern University students and some of America’s most notable leaders.

Born in 1919, Freeman first tried public speaking in the church. He pursued studies in divinity, and while lecturing at Morehouse College in 1947, he left a distinct impression on the then eighteen-year-old Martin Luther King Jr.

After graduating from the University of Chicago, Freeman moved to Houston in 1949 to teach at Texas Southern. He expected this to be a minor detour, but after the university asked him to coach the debate team, he would build a career there over six decades while also serving as pastor at Mount Horem Baptist Church.

In 1956, Freeman’s debate team defeated Harvard in competition, bringing Texas Southern national acclaim. Among Freeman’s debaters was future congresswoman Barbara Jordan, whose measured, authoritative style owed much to Freeman. And, while the 2007 film The Great Debaters was based on another storied Texas university debate team, its star Denzel Washington trained with Freeman for the role.

In 2019, Freeman celebrated his hundredth birthday at TSU with generations of his students. He passed away shortly thereafter. The TSU Debate Team continues to thrive, its debates a popular showcase for the school.

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Now led by Freeman’s former student and protégé Gloria Batiste-Roberts, the Texas Southern University Debate Team holds as its mission the highest level of competition and understanding of forensics. Its debates are often open to the public and are a popular showcase for the campus, as are the thousands of trophies the team has won over Freeman’s tenure and beyond.

In 2009, Texas Southern University honored Dr. Freeman by naming the new Honors College after him. Freeman was still a professor at the time, retiring in 2013.

Newspaper clippings including photographs and accounts of Thomas Freeman’s remarkable career can be found on The Portal to Texas History, courtesy of the Barbara C. Jordan Archives at Texas Southern University.

Selected Bibliography

Bryant, Ira B. Texas Southern University: Its Antecedents, Political Origins, and Future. Houston: Armstrong, 1975.

Farnsworth, Robert M. Melvin B. Tolson, 1898-1966: Plain Talk and Poetic Prophecy. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1984.

Ford, Jr., James H. The Peddler’s Son: Dr. Thomas Franklin Freeman. San Francisco: Blurb, 2020.

Jones, Previn. Public Speaking the Freeman Way: the Five Universal Laws of Public Speaking I Learned from the Legendary Dr. Thomas Freeman. Houston: Community Education Services, 2012.

Lash, John S., Hortense W. Dixon, and Thomas W. Freeman. Texas Southern University: From Separation to Special Designation. Houston: Texas Southern University, 1975.

Pitre, Merline. Born to Serve: A History of Texas Southern University. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2018.

Scherman, Tony. "The Great Debaters." American Legacy (Spring 1997): 40-42.

Seelye, Katharine Q. "Thomas Freeman, Debate Coach with Broad Influence, Dies at 100." New York Times, June 16, 2020.