George Washington Carver School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to honor every word. The George Washington Carver School in Edna, Texas, carries a long story, and it starts with a name that changed along the way. The place was first called the Edna Colored School, and its first class of students graduated back in 1912.

Now, the early years are murky. Records are hard to find, and what we know mostly comes from early settlers who believed the first school building stood on the east side of Dry Creek, right where the police station now stands. So from the very beginning, you're chasing a school that history did its best to leave in the shadows.

That tells you something right there. The school was established during a tumultuous time in America's social history. Segregated schools were set up in Edna, and even after the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was unconstitutional, the schools in this town kept running on a two-race system all the way up until 1965.

Let that settle for a moment. In 1931, the Edna Colored School was relocated to the southern portion of lots V and VI of Marvin's Second Addition, and it stayed put in that location until 1953. Then, in 1949, a new auditorium and gymnasium were constructed in the Harlem Addition to the school district.

And it was during that same period that the school received its new name: George Washington Carver School. A new name, a new building, and a community still fighting for what every school deserved as a matter of course. In 1954, E.

T. and Maymie White-Rose gifted land to the school district so a new school building could be built. Several of the buildings from the Washington and Harris campus were moved over to that new site. The Edna school district was finally integrated in 1967, when Edna High School's graduating class included the first African American students.

Nineteen sixty-seven. That's the year the door finally opened all the way. Through all of it, even under its separate but equal status, Carver School was a highly valued educational institution and served as a central place for the black community of Edna.

That community built something real inside those walls, in spite of every obstacle stacked against them. In 2008, George Washington Carver was sold to a non-profit group, and today it carries on as the George Washington Carver Center of Jackson County, Inc. The school that started in the shadows near Dry Creek, that moved and renamed and endured, is still standing and still serving.

That's not luck. That's a community that refused to let it go.

What the marker says

The George Washington Carver School, formerly known as the Edna Colored School, had its first class of students graduate in 1912. Though records are hard to find for the early school years, early settlers believed the site of the first school building to be on the east side of Dry Creek where the police station now stands. The school was established during a tumultuous time in America's social history. Segregated schools were established in Edna but even with the Supreme Court decision stating that segregation was unconstitutional, schools operated on a "two-race" system up until 1965. In 1931, The Edna Colored School was relocated to the southern portion of lots V and VI of Marvin's Second Addition. It stayed in this location until 1953. In 1949, a new auditorium and gymnasium were constructed in the Harlem Addition to the school district. During this time, the Edna Colored School received its new name, George Washington Carver School. In 1954, E. T. and Maymie White-Rose gifted land to the school district to build a new school building. Several of the buildings from the Washington and Harris campus were moved to this new site. The Edna school district was finally integrated in 1967 when Edna High School's graduating class included the first African American students. Even under its "separate but equal" status, Carver School was a highly valued educational institution and has served as a central place for the black community of Edna. In 2008, George Washington Carver was sold to a non-profit group and is now named George Washington Carver Center of Jackson County, Inc. (2014)