For more than four decades, George Henderson, OU human relations emeritus and the first black homeowner in Norman, has worked on the front line of race relations as an adviser, professor, administrator and resident.

Now, he is sharing his story and a piece of campus history in a new memoir titled “Race and the University.”

The 272-page memoir is Henderson’s insight into the black-and-white divide of the civil rights movement in the1960s, as it happened on the OU-Norman campus. Henderson, a Detroit native and the third black professor to teach at OU, recounts how he discovered the value of uniting and battling racial discrimination in a nonviolent way.

“I think all people should know their history and this is an important part of the university’s past,” said Henderson, founder of the Human Relations department at OU. “I think something very important happened here and very few people really know the intricacies of what it was like, what sacrifices were made and what some of the outcomes were.”

The book gives OU students an opportunity to see how different the campus environment was in the 1960s and 1970s compared to made and what some of the outcomes were.”

The book gives OU students an opportunity to see how different the campus environment was in the 1960s and 1970s compared to now, Henderson said.

“We were not what we wanted to be in those days,” he said. “We were struggling to find our way, and we reached out and found each other. That is what the book is about.”

The 77-year-old credits much of his academic and personal success to his interactions with students.

Throughout his career, Henderson said students always taught him humility, courage and love through all of his struggles as a trailblazer of racial equality.

“(This) generation reading the book will say, ‘My goodness, you’re making this up, people didn’t live like this,’” he said. “Well, we did live like that; we lived in parallel universities; we occupied the same geographical space, but we were not as a whole racially integrated.”

The book incorporates three recollections from three of Henderson’s former students. They discuss their living, social and classroom conditions.

The foreword of the book is written by former OU professor David Levy. He is the author of the novel, “Oklahoma: A History.”

“For decades, Dr. Henderson has been a voice raised on behalf of better race relations at OU and throughout the state,” Levy said.

“As a historian, of course, I think it is essential that students understand the history that has led us to the present, and this book provides an engaging and worthwhile study of an important aspect of our past.”

All sales from “Race and the University” will go to support the Henderson Scholars Program and other scholarship groups in need.

“I think it [the book] will have a profound impact on our ability to attract scholars to the program,” said Norris Williams, director of the Henderson Scholars Program.

“I think it’s going to really show our future students and current students, just what happens when faculty and staff and students come together and try to make a difference.”

OU President David Boren said in an e-mail that Henderson’s book is very important because people should not ignore the mistakes of the past and it will help create a better future for the university.

“It takes unbelievable moral courage to end injustice and to change an embedded culture of intolerance,” Boren said.