Fred Douglass School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to honor every word. The Fred Douglass School. Cherokee County, Jacksonville, Texas.

Now settle in, because this story's got weight to it, and it deserves to be carried carefully. Named after prominent African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, the Fred Douglass School was a twentieth century African American educational institution in Jacksonville. That name wasn't chosen lightly.

It was a declaration. But to understand what this school meant, you have to understand what made it necessary. Jim Crow.

The system of laws that legalized segregation. Under those laws, African Americans had to attend separate schools, full stop. No negotiating that point.

And so Jacksonville's Black community did what communities do when the door is shut in their face. They built their own. Back in the nineteen hundreds, there was a place they called the Little Red School House, one of the first African American schools in Jacksonville.

It served its purpose, and then in 1921, it burned down. Now that could have been the end of the story. It wasn't.

J.H. Howard, the principal, directed the construction of something new. Something better.

Something with a name on it that meant something. First built in 1922 on Elberta Street, the original Fred Douglass School was funded partially by the Rosenwald Foundation, an organization that gave money to construct African American schools in rural areas across the South. The building had six classrooms, a principal's office, a book room, and an auditorium.

Not lavish. But real. Permanent.

Purposeful. M.B. Davis came on as the first principal in 1924 and held that post all the way through 1956.

Then H.V. Jones took the helm, serving from 1956 to 1970. But somewhere in the middle of all that, in 1930, a man named M.C.

Wade sat down across from the all-white Jacksonville school board and negotiated. He pushed them to allocate funds for a larger Fred Douglass School, this one in Lincoln Park. Now think about what that took.

One man, walking into that room, making that case. And it worked. The school moved from Elberta Street to the Lincoln Park Addition, which had more classrooms and a larger auditorium, room enough for a growing student population.

The school kept growing. A building went up on Gaston Street, named Fred Douglass High School. The community had gone from a Little Red School House to a full high school campus.

Students attended until 1970, when African American students were fully integrated into Jacksonville schools. After integration, the school sat empty. And then, in 1979, it burned down.

There's a symmetry there that this story doesn't ask you to miss. A fire started this chapter, and a fire closed it. But in between, for decades, the Fred Douglass School stood as proof of two things at once.

It represented the systems of inequality that defined the Jim Crow South. And it represented something the marker says just as plainly, how Jacksonville's African American community built educational opportunities for their children anyway. That's the whole of it, right there.

They built it anyway.

What the marker says

Named after prominent African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, the Fred Douglass School was a 20th century African American educational institution in Jacksonville. Because of Jim Crow, the system of laws that legalized segregation, African Americans had to attend separate schools. In the 1900s, the "Little Red School House" was one of the first African American schools in Jacksonville. When the school burned down in 1921, J.H. Howard, the principal, directed the construction of the Fred Douglass School. First built in 1922 on Elberta Street, the original Fred Douglass School was funded partially by the Rosenwald Foundation, which gave money to construct African American schools in rural areas in the South. The building consisted of six classrooms, a principal's office, book room and auditorium. M.B. Davis served as the first principal from 1924-1956 with H.V. Jones serving as principal from 1956-1970. In 1930, M.C. Wade negotiated with the all-white Jacksonville school board to allocate funds for a larger Fred Douglass School in Lincoln Park. To accommodate the growing student population, the school moved from its Elberta Street location to the Lincoln Park Addition, which contained more classrooms and a larger auditorium. The school expanded again with the construction of another building located on Gaston Street named Fred Douglass High School. Students attended the school until 1970 when African American students were fully integrated into Jacksonville schools. After integration, the school sat empty until it burned down in 1979. The Fred Douglass School not only represented the systems of inequality used in the Jim Crow South, but also how Jacksonville's African American community built educational opportunities for their children. (2018)