John Jarvis Seabrook

American academic
The basics

Quick Facts

IntroAmerican academic
PlacesUnited States of America
wasAcademic
Work fieldEducation
Gender
Male
Birth12 April 1899
Death1 May 1975 (aged 76 years)
Star signAries
Education
Huston–Tillotson University
The details

Biography

John Jarvis Seabrook (April 12, 1899 – May 1, 1975) was an African-American pastor and president-emeritus of Huston-Tillotson University. He died May 1, 1975, while arguing before the Austin City Council on the naming of Austin's MLK Jr. Boulevard (formerly "19th Street"). In East Austin, east of Interstate 35 (a region historically populated primarily by minorities), the street was to be named MLK Jr. Blvd; west of I-35, it would remain 19th Street. Dr. Seabrook wanted there to be a single name in both East and West Austin. While speaking to the council of the need to unite the city, Dr. Seabrook collapsed, suffering a fatal heart attack.

On May 15, 2010, the same council approved naming of the MLK Jr. Boulevard bridge over I-35 after Seabrook. A $55,000 scholarship at Huston-Tillotson University has also been set up in Seabrook's name, $55,000 being the proposed cost of changing the road signs on the former 19th street to MLK Boulevard in 1975. This cost was one of the arguments at the time against changing the name of the road.

The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 27 Jul 2020. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.