Marian Anderson High School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Madisonville, Texas, 1880. On the northeast side of town, somebody decided that African American children deserved a place to learn.

So they built one — a single room, four walls and a roof, and a teacher named Spencer Davis standing at the front of it. That was the beginning. Five years later, in 1885, the school moved to a new site — this very site — on land donated by the Reverend Neal McCloud.

And Reverend McCloud didn't just give the land. He taught the students himself, all forty of them. Other ministers stepped in to teach as well, in those early years.

Now, the marker doesn't sugarcoat it. There were difficulties — real ones, for both the students and the educators. But the school kept growing anyway.

That's the kind of story this is. By the 1920s, what they had wasn't enough anymore. So the Julius Rosenwald Foundation provided the funding, and in 1926 a new schoolhouse opened on this spot.

Eight classrooms — and some of those classrooms could fold open into one another to form an auditorium. There was a cafeteria. This wasn't just a building, it was a community anchor.

Interscholastic events happened here. Proms. Parent-teacher association meetings.

Special programs. And every year, citizens gathered here to celebrate Juneteenth together. When the Great Depression settled over the country like a long hard summer, the school didn't flinch.

It added woodwork, painting, and general repair training. It offered facilities for canning and a farmers' shop. Education, yes — but also the practical skills people needed to survive the moment they were living in.

In the 1940s and into the 1950s, rural schools from the surrounding area began consolidating with what was then called Madisonville Colored High School. The campus kept growing. The district constructed new facilities right here on this site during the 1950s.

And then the students themselves made a decision — they voted to rename their school. They chose Marian Anderson High School, in honor of the world-renowned contralto. That name meant something.

It still does. Madisonville was one of the last school districts in the entire state of Texas to integrate. And in December of 1970, Marian Anderson High School closed.

It served later as an intermediate campus, but its chapter as a high school was finished. What didn't close was the memory, and the people who carry it. An alumni group continues to meet to this day — raising funds for scholarships to benefit Madisonville's youth, and working to preserve the history of the city's African American community.

From one room in 1880 to a name that honored a legend, to a legacy that outlasted the school itself. That's Marian Anderson High School.

What the marker says

In 1880, Madisonville's first school for African American students was established on the northeast side of town in a one-room schoolhouse. Spencer Davis served as the first teacher. In 1885, the school was moved to this site, on land donated by the Rev. Neal Mccloud, who taught the school's 40 students. Other early teachers included Ministers. Despite the difficulties students and educators faced, the school continued to grow. By the 1920s, a new facility was needed. Funded by the Julius Rosenwald Foundation, a new schoolhouse opened in 1926. It had a cafeteria and eight classrooms, some of which could be opened together to form an auditorium. The school was the site of interscholastic events, proms, parent-teacher association meetings and special programs. Citizens also gathered at the school for the community Juneteenth celebration. In addition to its regular curriculum, the school offered woodwork, painting and general repair training, as well as facilities for canning and for a farmers' shop during the Great Depression. In the 1940s and 1950s, several rural schools consolidated with Madisonville Colored High School. During the 1950s, the school district constructed new facilities at this site, and the students voted to change the school's name to Marian Anderson High School, in honor of the world-renowned contralto. Madisonville was one of the last school districts in the state to integrate, and Marian Anderson High School closed in December 1970, serving later as an intermediate campus. An alumni group continues to meet, raising funds for scholarships to benefit Madisonville's youth and working to preserve the history of the city's African American Community. (2004)