DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. On De la Rosa Street, there stands a story that Val Verde County doesn't let fade — the story of Langston School. San Felipe ISD operated a school for African American students for a short time in the 1930s, and then again from 1945 to 1956.
They named it for Langston Hughes, notable writer of the Harlem Renaissance. That name alone tells you something about the ambitions held inside those walls. Now, San Felipe ISD bought the property in 1934 and built a two-room schoolhouse — one classroom and a smaller storeroom.
Two rooms. That's what they had to work with. Sparse records, as the marker tells it, indicate no principal for Langston — just one teacher at a time, standing up in front of as many as thirty students, covering grades one through eight.
One teacher. Thirty kids. Eight grade levels.
You do the math on how long that school day must have felt. And when those students were ready for high school? Well, Langston didn't go that far.
They went to Del Rio's Tarver School, or they went as far as San Antonio, or as far as Houston. That's how serious a family had to be about education — serious enough to send a child clear across Texas. But here's the thing that gets me about Langston School: with all it lacked on paper, it had a parent-teacher association.
A PTA. Parents and teachers, organizing, showing up, refusing to let sparse resources be the final word. As the school district integrated, Langston closed in 1957.
The building is gone from daily use, but the name — Langston Hughes, the Harlem Renaissance, De la Rosa Street, Val Verde County — that name is still standing.
What the marker says
San Felipe ISD operated a school for African American students for a short time in the 1930s and again from 1945-56. Langston School on De la Rosa street was named for Langston Hughes, notable writer of the Harlem Renaissance. San Felipe ISD bought the property in 1934 and built a two-room schoolhouse, consisting of one classroom and a smaller storeroom. Sparse records indicate no principal for Langston and one teacher at a time, who taught up to thirty students in grades one to eight. Those wishing to attend high school went to Del Rio’s Tarver School or as far as San Antonio or Houston. Langston school did have a parent-teacher association (PTA). As the school district integrated, Langston closed in 1957. (2013)