Mary Simpson McFall
DISTINGUISHED GOLDEN EX
Respect for the Rule of Law
Mary Simpson McFall never intended to be a pioneer.
All the San Angelo native wanted was a college education like her parents. So, when San Angelo College (SAC) voluntarily opened its doors to blacks in 1953, a year before Brown vs. Board of Education made desegregation mandatory, she was one of the first three African Americans to enroll.
“I think San Angelo College was a good example of how things can happen,” McFall said, “when you have courageous people like the college. Most institutions were waiting around so they could blame desegregation on the Supreme Court. I thought desegregating the college was a courageous thing to do at that time."
“In so much of the South you had bad examples like a governor standing in the doorway to prevent black children from entering,” McFall continued. “People like those at SAC set a positive tone.”
Two years after enrolling, McFall would receive her diploma, being named outstanding SAC student and becoming the first of her race to graduate from San Angelo College. Today she is a successful Dallas attorney and the ASU Alumni Association’s choice for the 2007 Golden Ex.
From SAC she went to Texas Southern University a year before becoming one of the first blacks to enroll when the University of Texas opened its doors to African Americans. She graduated in 1957 and became one of the first black women admitted to the UT School of Law, but marriage and a family sidetracked her legal education. That family today includes son Brick McFall and daughter Jamila Agbon, both of Dallas, and five grandchildren.
Her admiration for attorneys such as Thurgood Marshall, who argued Brown vs. Board of Education before the Supreme Court and later became the first black appointed to the high court, drew her back to UT Law School where she graduated in 1978. Today her law practice handles about 75 percent family law, wills/estates and probate as well as about 25 percent miscellaneous cases, including personal injury claims.
Looking back at her SAC experience, McFall sees her junior college years as a bridge to her subsequent bachelor’s and law degrees and to her success.
“It was a good experience,” McFall said, “in that I was able to make good grades and I got a good background.”