DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Booker T. Washington High School in Harris County. Now, some institutions are born great, and some have greatness thrust upon them by the weight of an entire community's hunger for learning.
This is one of the latter kind. The year was 1893. Houston was growing, the Fourth Ward was humming with life, and on San Felipe Street — the road we now call West Dallas Street — a school opened its doors.
They called it Colored High School, and it was the first high school in Houston open to African Americans. Not just the first great one. The first one, period.
Charles H. Atherton took on the role of principal at the start, and he held that post until 1912. Under his watch, students bent over books covering English, Latin, mathematics, science, and history.
And by 1896, a young man named Wright Mungin had worked through every last bit of that coursework and walked out as the first graduate of Colored High School. The very first. For thirty-three years — thirty-three — that school stood as the only high school available to African American students in Houston.
It wasn't until 1926 that Yates Colored High School, now known as Jack Yates High School, opened and gave students a second option. But even before that, the school was stackin' up firsts like cordwood. In May of 1909, the colored branch of the Carnegie Library opened to the public right inside the school building, making it Houston's first library accessible to African Americans.
A library. Inside the school. Think on that a moment.
Then in 1925, Wiley College, up in Marshall, Texas, established an extension branch at Colored High. It moved to Yates High after just one year, but those Houston-based successors kept on evolving — into Texas State University for Negroes in 1947, and then into Texas Southern University in 1951. Meanwhile, the school itself was changing too.
A major campus renovation was completed in 1927, and in that same year, the school was renamed in honor of Booker T. Washington — African American founder of Tuskegee Institute. A new name for an institution that had already been carrying an enormous legacy.
Time and population shifts have a way of movin' things around, and in 1959 the school relocated to a new campus at 39th and Yale Streets, settling into the historic African American Independence Heights community. New address, same mission. And when integration came, Washington High School didn't just weather the change — it was awarded the Houston Independent School District's very first Magnet program in 1974.
The High School for Engineering Professions that grew from that designation continues today as a cornerstone of what the school offers. From a single building on San Felipe Street in 1893 to a magnet program shaping engineers in the present day — Colored High School, Booker T. Washington High School, has been writing Houston history for well over a century.
That's not a footnote. That's the whole story.
What the marker says
Booker T. Washington High School, the first high school in Houston open to African Americans, was founded in 1893 as Colored High School, and was located in the Fourth Ward on San Felipe Street (now West Dallas Street). It served as the only high school for African American students until Yates Colored High School (Now Jack Yates High School) opened in 1926. Charles H. Atherton was the school's firs principal, a position he held until 1912. Courses taught at the school include English, Latin, mathematics, science and history. By 1896, Wright Mungin completed the coursework necessary to become the first graduate of Colored High School. The colored branch of the Carnegie Library was opened to the public inside the school in May 1909, establishing Houston's first library accessible to African Americans. Wiley College in Marshall, Texas established an extension branch at Colored High in 1925 and moved it to Yates High after one year. Houston based successors evolved into Texas State University for Negroes in 1947, then Texas Southern University in 1951. A major campus renovation was completed in 1927, and in the same year the school was renamed in honor of African American Booker T. Washington, founder of Tuskegee Institute. Population shifts led to relocation of the school in 1959to a new campus at 39th and Yale Streets, in the historic African American Independence Heights community. During the process of integration Washington High School was awarded the Houston Independent School District's first Magnet program in 1974, and the "High School for Engineering Professions" continues today as an important part of the school's curriculum. (2010)