Complex sentence: Texas A&M president Thomas S. Gathright selected L. W. Minor of Mississippi as the first principal, and on March 11,1878, eight young African-American men enrolled in the short-lived Alta Vista Agricultural College.
Split into simpler sentences: Texas A&M president Thomas S. Gathright selected L. W. Minor of Mississippi as the first principal. On March 11,1878, eight young African-American men enrolled in the short-lived Alta Vista Agricultural College.