DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Annie Colbert and the Rosenwald School in Liberty County, Texas. Now, by 1883, Liberty County was maintaining 53 schools — 19 of them for African American children. The average school term ran three months, serving ages eight to fourteen.
But if you were a child in Dayton, your only option sat way out near the settlements of Stilson and Fouts. Not exactly convenient. Not exactly a statement of welcome.
Something was going to have to change. In the late 1890s, the school district hired their first African American teacher. Her name was Annie Fairchild Colbert, born in Houston in 1866.
She had attended Houston schools, then gone on to Tillotson Institute in Austin — and she came back ready to teach. She was doing exactly that at the Gregory School when she married a railroad porter named Tony Colbert. And that, right there, is where the powers-that-be in Houston drew their line.
Married women were forbidden to teach school in Houston. So Annie Colbert didn't argue with a city that didn't want her. She and her husband packed up and moved to Dayton, where the school district offered her a position.
What they offered her, when she arrived, was a one-room shack. Now, some folks might've looked at that shack and felt defeated. Annie Colbert looked at it and gathered her students.
And together — teacher and children — they built something better. A one-room frame schoolhouse, near Luke and Prater Streets. Built by the very people who were going to use it.
For years, Mrs. Colbert taught the African American students of Dayton, instilling the value of education in her students and in the community itself, right up until 1918. That's a long run in a one-room schoolhouse you helped build with your own students.
In 1918, the African American school relocated to a site near the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church. And in 1927, the school district built the Dayton Colored School — a real, proper building.
A marker of progress, hard-earned. Then 1929 arrived. And the Dayton Colored School burned.
That same year, the school district and the community refused to let the fire have the last word. They partnered with the Rosenwald School Building Program to construct a new school for the African American community. It took a few years of work and will, but in 1934, a four-room Rosenwald School was dedicated in Dayton.
And they named it for Annie Colbert. A woman born in 1866 who died in 1961, who was pushed out of one city and walked into another carrying nothing but determination, gathered children around a shack, and built something from the ground up — literally. A pioneer in African American education in Southeast Texas, as the marker says.
And the school that carries her name is the monument to prove it.
What the marker says
BY 1883, LIBERTY COUNTY MAINTAINED 53 SCHOOLS, INCLUDING 19 AFRICAN AMERICAN SCHOOLS. THE AVERAGE SCHOOL TERM WAS THREE MONTHS FOR AGES 8-14 BUT THE ONLY SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN IN DAYTON WAS LOCATED NEAR THE SETTLEMENTS OF STILSON AND FOUTS. IN THE LATE 1890s, THE SCHOOL DISTRICT HIRED THEIR FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TEACHER, ANNIE (FAIRCHILD) COLBERT (1866-1961). BORN IN HOUSTON, SHE ATTENDED HOUSTON SCHOOLS AND THEN TILLOTSON INSTITUTE IN AUSTIN. SHE TAUGHT AT THE GREGORY SCHOOL UNTIL SHE MARRIED RAILROAD PORTER TONY COLBERT. FORBIDDEN TO TEACH SCHOOL IN HOUSTON AS A MARRIED WOMAN, SHE AND HER HUSBAND MOVED TO DAYTON WHERE ANNIE ACCEPTED A POSITION AT A ONE-ROOM SHACK. UPON ARRIVAL, SHE GATHERED HER STUDENTS AND, TOGETHER, THEY BUILT AN IMPROVED ONE-ROOM FRAME SCHOOLHOUSE NEAR LUKE AND PRATER STREETS. MRS. COLBERT CONTINUED TO TEACH THE AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS OF DAYTON UNTIL 1918, INSTILLING THE VALUE OF EDUCATION IN HER STUDENTS AND WITHIN THE COMMUNITY. IN 1918, THE AFRICAN AMERICAN SCHOOL RELOCATED TO A SITE NEAR THE ST. PAUL AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH UNTIL 1927, WHEN THE SCHOOL DISTRICT BUILT THE DAYTON COLORED SCHOOL. SADLY, IT BURNED IN 1929. THAT SAME YEAR, THE SCHOOL DISTRICT AND COMMUNITY PARTNERED WITH THE ROSENWALD SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM TO CONSTRUCT A SCHOOL FOR THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY. THE NEW FOUR-ROOM ROSENWALD SCHOOL WAS DEDICATED IN 1934 AND NAMED IN HONOR OF ANNIE COLBERT, A PIONEER IN AFRICAN AMERICAN EDUCATION IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS. (2019