Dichotomy of a Legacy

ew biology professors are interviewed by the likes of media luminaries Oprah Winfrey and Mike Wallace, let alone for something outside of their academic discipline. But Thomas Gaither was a sought-after speaker for his influence outside of the classroom, where he spent his entire career teaching biology at Slippery Rock University before retiring in 2007.

Prior to arriving at SRU in 1968, Gaither was one of the “Friendship Nine” civil rights activists who in 1961 conducted a lunch counter sit-in to protest South Carolina segregation laws. A member of the National Civil Rights Hall of Fame, Gaither received national recognition for his leadership, sharing stories from the civil rights movement and messages of nonviolence and hope. His speeches, letters and oral history are chronicled in the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian.

Gaither, 86, passed away Dec. 23, 2024, at his home in Prospect, not far from SRU’s campus where he impacted the lives of students who knew him almost entirely as an educator, rather than an activist.

“He led a remarkable life because it was in two phases,” said Kenn Gaither, one of Gaither’s two sons. “The Civil Rights Era was integral to who he was, but what’s amazing about him is so many of his students never knew of his background. It’s a fascinating story to go from growing up in the segregated south and being heavily involved in the Civil Rights movement to becoming a biology professor in western Pennsylvania.”

Born in Great Falls, S.C., Gaither attended Claflin College, an all-Black school in Orangeburg, S.C., where he led peaceful protests and was president of the youth chapter of the NAACP. “People needed to be aware of the unjust treatment that a segment of our country was facing,” he said in an interview for The ROCK magazine in 2018.

After he graduated in 1960, the 22-year-old Gaither was working as a field secretary for the Congress of Racial Equality. He recruited eight college students from Friendship Junior College in Rock Hill to order a hamburger, sit down and eat in the diner at the local McCrory’s five and dime store, which at the time was illegal for Black people. The nine men were handcuffed by police and thrown in jail, but rather than pay the $100 fine, the group chose hard labor on a chain gang, emphasizing the “jail, no bail” movement of the time that opposed giving money to governments that supported Jim Crow laws.

Gaither went on to earn a master’s degree from Clark Atlanta University and a doctoral degree from the University of Iowa, taking up a teaching career that led him to SRU where he started what he called his “first and only job.” He later referred to his work as a civil rights activist as simply “doing the right thing.”

His second phase was doing right for his students. When asked how Gaither should be remembered by the SRU community, the first thing his son said was that Gaither was “very serious about his students and teaching.”

“He held high standards, and he pushed students, and sometimes they would push back,” said Kenn Gaither, who is now dean and professor of strategic communications at Elon University. “But many of those students who I’ve met years later would comment on how effective he was as a teacher, how much he cared about what he taught, and how enthusiastic he was about science. But as much as he was serious in the classroom, what made him a great father, he could be a lot of fun outside of the classroom.”

When Kenn was in high school he sat in on one of his father’s classes at SRU and took copious notes that he would recite to his father on occasion over the years, describing monocots and dicots of plant structures, without him knowing it was from his own class lecture.

“It became a running family joke, because he would furrow his brow and say that I knew what I was talking about,” Kenn said. “I finally told him, as he was close to dying, that I had been doing that from those notes.”

Kenn shared many other stories, including the time the family had a belly dancer enter his classroom to surprise him on his birthday, which would be completely unthinkable or acceptable to happen to a professor today, but Gaither, true to his form, continued teaching like nothing was different.

Later in his life, Gaither and his wife of 52 years, Diane, who died in 2021, were known for their flower gardens. Kenn marveled how his father would always refer to the flowers by their scientific names instead of roses or pansies.

Gaither also followed SRU sports teams closely, attending football and basketball games, or in the last few years, watching games online. Even in his final days, as The Rock football team advanced to the national semifinals, sports were a topic of conversation for Gaither and his sons.

“That’s something that bonded our family, because we still watch every Slippery Rock game,” Kenn Gaither said. “It actually gave me a great deal of comfort in his last few weeks when he would still get worked up over a missed tackle, because I saw a glimpse of my father as he was. He cheered on The Rock to the end.”

Gaither’s affinity for SRU and legacy as an advocate and educator will continue to live through scholarships named in his honor. Two scholarships supported by Gaither and several alumni donors are awarded at SRU: The Dr. Thomas Gaither Award for Excellence, established in 2018 that awards $500 annually for students who are ambassadors in the University’s Frederick Douglass Institute; and the Thomas W. Gaither Scholarship, which began in 2004 thanks to an initial gift by Susan Tritt, ’72, provides $1,000 annually for biology students who demonstrate financial need.

Elizabeth Brison, a freshman biology major from Washington, is the recipient of the latter. An advocate for people with disabilities, Brison comes from a low-income family and uses a service dog. She has an anxiety/depressive disorder, as well as psychologically induced cardiac disorder.

“I wouldn’t be here at Slippery Rock if not for this scholarship,” Brison said. “It’s paying for me to be a part of the University, so I’m very appreciative of that scholarship.”

Upon hearing this, Kenn smiled and his face welled up with pride.

“I know how much that would have meant to my father because he believed so strongly in education; that was one of his deepest commitments and values,” Kenn Gaither said. “He loved working with students, and he believed that education never betrays you. It always carries you further than you thought you could go or might go, and that’s what he saw in his students at Slippery Rock.”

For more information about supporting the Gaither scholarship, including a video with an interview with Gaither, visit www.srufoundation.org/gaither.