Douglass Grammar and High School

Duane's take

Now, I'm going to tell you what the official marker says about this place, in my own fashion. Pull over if you need to — this one's worth your full attention. You're looking at the original Douglass Grammar and High School.

And friend, there is more story packed into these walls than most buildings twice its size could hold. This building served El Paso's African American community from 1891 to 1920. Named in honor of famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Right there, before you've heard a single other detail, that name tells you something about what the people who built this school believed in. El Paso had established a segregated public school system in the 1880s and located its school for African American students in the heart of the Black community. That's where it started.

The doors opened as a grammar school in 1891, and by 1896 — just five years in — the curriculum had expanded to include high school classes, foreign languages, and music. Think about that. Foreign languages and music.

In 1896. These families were not settling for the minimum. African Americans in El Paso found employment in the railroad, smelting, retail, and service industries.

As Black families prospered, they moved into middle and upper-middle class homes in the five points area, and then they did something that takes real community backbone — they petitioned the city. They said: build us a school closer to where we live now. And in 1920, a new Douglass Grammar and High School was completed on Eucalyptus Street.

The original building was sold. The new Douglass School carried the torch from 1920 all the way to 1956, when El Paso finally desegregated its school system. Today, Douglass is an elementary school.

Now — here's the part that needs to be said plainly. Before desegregation, the teachers and students at Douglass faced lower salaries and inferior school equipment and supplies. That was the reality of Jim Crow.

Institutional discrimination, deliberate and grinding. And yet. The principals and teachers were well educated and extraordinarily dedicated to their students.

Despite everything working against them, they produced graduates who went on to become surgeons, engineers, pharmacists, athletes, artists, and educators. The marker calls Douglass a symbol of the Jim Crow Era of institutional discrimination — and it is that, honestly and fully. But it also calls this place an example of the self-help philosophy that forged a unified African American community and provided the city's Black children with a lifeline to higher education.

A lifeline. That's the word. In the middle of a system designed to hold them back, the people of this community built something that reached forward.

That's the story these walls are still telling.

What the marker says

This building is the original Douglass Grammar and High School, which served El Paso's African American community from 1891 to 1920. It was named in honor of famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass. El Paso established a segregated public school system in the 1880s and located its school for African American students in the heart of the Black community. Douglass opened as a grammar school in 1891. By 1896, the curriculum had expanded to include high school classes, foreign languages and music. African Americans found employment in the railroad, smelting, retail and service industries. As Black families prospered, they moved into middle and upper-middle class homes in the five points area and petitioned the city to provide a school closer to their new neighborhoods. In 1920, a new Douglass Grammar and High School was completed on Eucalyptus Street and the original Douglass School was sold. The new Douglass School served the city's African American community from 1920 to 1956, when El Paso desegregated its school system. Today, Douglass is an elementary school. Prior to desegregation, teachers and students at Douglass faced many hardships, including lower salaries and inferior school equipment and supplies. Despite the discrimination, the principals and teachers were well educated and extraordinarily dedicated to their students. Many graduates went on to become successful surgeons, engineers, pharmacists, athletes, artists and educators. Douglass Grammar and High School is a symbol of the Jim Crow Era of institutional discrimination but it is also an example of the self-help philosophy that forged a unified African American community and provided the city's Black children with a lifeline to higher education.