DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say — and this one deserves every word of it. Let me set the stage for you. After the Civil War, during Reconstruction, the State of Texas built a public school system specifically for African-American students.
That was the foundation of something that would last for generations — a separation written into the very architecture of education. Then came 1896. The United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in Plessy v.
Ferguson, and with it came a doctrine you may have heard before: separate but equal. The Court had put the weight of federal law behind segregation, and the schoolhouse doors of Texas reflected it. Now, the thing about a wall that gets built up slow is that it doesn't come down overnight either.
Fifty-eight years later — 1954 — the Supreme Court took another look. In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the Court ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional.
Just like that, the legal foundation cracked. And Texas, being Texas, began to move — carefully, unevenly, in its own time and its own way. By 1957, more than one hundred Texas school districts had made some progress toward desegregation.
One hundred districts. In three years. That's not nothing.
But progress and completion are two very different things. The method of desegregation varied district to district — and that's putting it mildly. Some schools integrated one grade per year, like they were testing the water with one toe at a time.
Others offered what they called freedom of choice, letting students select which high school they would attend. In some cases, the Supreme Court itself had to step in and provide desegregation plans. Some districts made the transition without incident.
Others — well, the marker says it plainly — experienced a difficult transition. And here is where the story gets heavy, because desegregation carried a cost that doesn't always make it into the history books. The movement led to the closing of most African-American schools across the state.
Places that had been more than buildings — they had been centers of pride, of identity, of community. Schools like L.C. Anderson High School, right here in Austin, a noted institution, closed their doors.
Many of those former school buildings were demolished. Others were left idle. Some found new life as community or educational programs — Head Start among them — but they were no longer what they had been.
The closure of those schools affected many residents deeply. These were not just classrooms. They were anchors.
And when they were gone, something irreplaceable went with them. And yet — and yet — many of the students who came up through those schools went on to become leaders. In their communities.
At the state level. On the national stage. Integration was a slow and often difficult process in Texas, as it was throughout the rest of the United States.
But today, the marker tells us, desegregation is remembered as a pivotal event in the Civil Rights Movement — and as the end of an era for African-American schools. The end of an era. That phrase carries two things at once: something unjust finally yielding, and something cherished lost in the yielding.
Texas history has a way of holding both truths at the same time, and this story is proof of it.
What the marker says
The State of Texas instituted a public school system for African-American students during Reconstruction. This segregation of students was further established through the 1896 United States Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which established the legality of the doctrine, "separate but equal." Desegragation of schools began after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954 that segregated schools were unconstitutional. By 1957, more than 100 Texas school districts had made progress toward desegragation. Throughout the proceeding decades, school districts integrated; in some cases, the Supereme Court provided desegregation plans. While many schools desegregated without incident, others experienced a difficult transition.The method of desegregation varied from district to district. Some integrated one grade per year; others gave students "freedom of choice," allowing them to select whigh high school they would attend. In the end, the movememnt led to the closing of most African-American schools across the state, including L.C. Anderson High School, a noted institution in Austin. Many of the former school buildings were demolished or left idle, while some were used for various community or educational prgroams, like Head Start. The closure of these schools affected many residents, since the institutions were often centers of pride for African-American communities. Many of the students from the schools became leaders in their communities, and on state and national levels.Integration was a slow and often difficult process in Texas, as well as throughout the rest of the United States. Today, desegregation is remembered in Texas as a pivotal event in the Civil Rights Movemement, and as the end of the era for African-American schools. (2008)