“Negro Students Club” from the “1938 Franciscan” yearbook (page 83)

San Francisco State Teacher’s College achieved status as a liberal arts college in 1935, and its name was changed to San Francisco State College. African-American students from various Bay Area campuses organized the Utopian Club in 1935 to promote greater understanding of African-American issues. San Francisco State Utopian Club, led by Wesley Johnson, organized a public debate with students at Wiley College in Texas as an ambitious first-of-its-kind event in the West. They announced the forum in the Golden Gater student newspaper on March 13, 1935, stating, “This inter-racial debate, which is sponsored by our organization, will do much in altering the existing attitude which many Caucasians have toward Negroes.” The following year the club reorganized as a purely social club called the Negro Students Club (1936-1938) established by Mel Johnson. The first president of the Negro Students Club was Vivian Swannigan, followed by Helen Louise Cox.