Memorial Object

Plaque/Marker

Jim Crow

Hendricks, Thomas A.

Stone memorializing Thomas A. Hendricks

The “Walk of Fame” was created in 1929 by then-president Hamilton Holt to honor significant historical figures. The memorial is located in the center of campus around Mills Lawn.

Thomas A. Hendricks (1819-1885) was a lawyer, politician, 16th governor of Indiana and 21st vice-president of the United States. He was born in Ohio and moved to Indiana as a child. Studying classics at Hanover College, he was later admitted to the bar. He served in the Indiana House of Representatives, where he introduced a bill that limited the migration of Black people to the state. He then served in the U.S. Congress, where he voted in favor of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, which expanded the geographical reach of slavery.

Hendricks made a national reputation for himself as a leading northern Democrat in the Senate during the Civil War and Reconstruction. He opposed the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments as he did not believe in racial equality. He was famous for declaring in the Senate, "This is the white man’s Government, made by the white man, for the white man.”

Hendricks ran for governor of Indiana three times, succeeding in 1872 and becoming the first Democratic governor elected in a northern state after the American Civil War. He ran for vice-president twice, winning in 1884 with President Grover Cleveland. However, Hendricks died nine months later of a heart attack.

Henricks' stone was acquired from the Elm Garage in Indianapolis, where his home used to be. It was placed sometime after September 1937.

Holt, Hamilton

Rectangular stone block with an inscription.
20" x 7"

Vice-Pres.
Thomas A. Hendricks
Indianapolis
Ind.

Fulton, Jack
Hanna, A.J.
Holt, Hamilton.

September 1937

1890-1945: Era of the Lost Cause, Jim Crow legal segregation and discrimination, and organized anti-Black racism

Rollins College

Walk of Fame

Rollins College; Winter Park, Florida

Thomas A. Hendricks

Life and Public Services of Thomas A. Hendricks

Hendricks, Thomas Andrews 1819-1885

Thomas Andrews Hendricks

Sermons in Stone

Voting in Congress