DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker for Friona Schools in Parmer County — let me tell you this one the way it deserves to be told. Now, every town in Texas has got a story. Some of 'em are about cattle drives, or oil strikes, or outlaws who rode through and never quite rode out.
Friona's story is something different. Friona's story is about a superintendent, a family, and a quiet decision that put this little panhandle town ahead of the whole state of Texas. But let's start at the beginning.
The first school in Friona opened on this very site in 1908 — one room, a frame building, eighteen pupils, and a teacher named Roxie Witherspoon holding the whole enterprise together. That modest start grew into something sturdier. By 1911, the town had itself a two-story brick schoolhouse.
Solid. Serious. Built to last.
It did not last. In 1922, lightning struck that building and it burned. So Friona built again, and in 1924 a new two-story brick high school opened its doors.
The 1940s brought more growth — rural schools out at Lakeview, Messenger, Black, and Rhea all consolidated with Friona, and the town's school swelled with the plains. Then came 1954. And this is where the story turns.
For most of the twentieth century, racial segregation of schoolchildren was considered the law of the land — reaffirmed by the United States Supreme Court way back in 1896 in Plessy v. Ferguson. Separate but equal, the court had said.
And for decades, the country largely accepted that. Until May 17, 1954, when the Supreme Court overturned it. Brown v.
Board of Education. Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the words plain as prairie sky — "we conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place." Now, the federal government moved slowly after that. State governments moved slowly.
Bureaucracies have a talent for slowness when slowness suits them. But out in Friona, something different happened. In September of 1954 — just months after that ruling — the Robert Walker, Jr. family came to town.
Superintendent Dalton Caffey chose to enroll Walker's three African American sons in Friona's only school. He didn't make a speech about it. He didn't call a press conference.
He just did it. And in doing so, he quietly achieved something no one else in Texas had done — the first integrated public school in the state. Afterward, Caffey informed the school board of his decision.
And things generally went smoothly — for the school and for the new students. The Walker family eventually moved away during that school year. But the door Caffey opened didn't close.
In the spring of 1955, three more African American students attended school in Friona. Since that watershed year, Friona schools have continued to uphold what Caffey set in motion — his wish for equal educational opportunity. No gunfight.
No monument raised overnight. Just a superintendent in a small panhandle town who decided that progress didn't have to wait — and in deciding that, made Friona the first town in Texas to integrate its schools. That's a distinction worth driving out here for.
What the marker says
Friona has the distinction of being the first town in Texas to integrate its schools. The first school opened on this site in 1908 in a one-room frame building, with Roxie Witherspoon teaching 18 pupils. A two-story brick school finished in 1911 burned after being struck by lightning in 1922. A new two-story brick high school opened in 1924. Attendance grew in the 1940s, when rural schools at Lakeview, Messenger, Black and Rhea consolidated with Friona. The school achieved its greatest fame in 1954. Racial segregation of schoolchildren was considered legal in the 20th century, reaffirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1896 in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. On May 17, 1954, the court overturned the decision, declaring segregation unconsitutional in Brown v. Board of Education. Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote, "we conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place." Federal and state government moved slowly to implement change, but in Friona, progress would not wait. The Robert Walker, Jr. family came to town in September 1954. When Superintendent Dalton Caffey chose to enroll Walker's three African American sons in Friona's only school, he quietly achieved the first integrated public school in Texas. Caffey then informed the school board of his decision, and things generally went smoothly for the school and new students. The Walkers moved away during the school year, and in the spring of 1955 three more African American students attended school here. Since that watershed year, Friona schools have continued to uphold Caffey's wish for equal educational opportunity. (2006)