DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the site of Marshall-Carver High School in Williamson County. Now, every great institution starts somewhere, and this one started with a name that told you everything about the world it existed in. They called it The Colored School.
That was it. That was the whole name. It served African American students in Georgetown in the early twentieth century, grades one through eight, and it was the only local educational opportunity those kids had.
Full stop. But then along came Mr. S.
C. Marshall, and things started to change. Marshall was the school's principal, and he was, by all accounts, a scholar himself.
More than that, he was an outspoken advocate of higher education — not just for some, for all his students. And he had the kind of conviction that walks into a school board meeting and does not walk back out until something has shifted. He persuaded that board to let him expand the curriculum beyond the eighth grade, all the way through high school level.
He named the new program The Georgetown Colored High School. And in 1913, the first student enrolled. Let that sit for just a moment.
One man's persistence, one student stepping through a door that hadn't existed before. Enrollment grew. It kept growing.
By 1923, a new high school building had to be erected just to keep up with the demand. The community was showing up. When Marshall left the school in 1930, the community showed up for him too.
They renamed it Marshall School in his honor. Then in the 1940s, the name changed again — this time to George Washington Carver. Marshall-Carver.
Two names, one through line of purpose. Now here is where the story turns, and you need to stay with it. In 1962, the parents of seventeen Carver students — seventeen children who had been denied admission to Georgetown's white schools — filed a lawsuit in U.S.
District Court to force integration. The court ordered the Georgetown Independent School District to integrate one grade level per year, starting with the first grade. Partial integration began in the fall of 1964.
Partial. One grade at a time. You can do the math on how long that takes.
African American parents were not convinced that gradual integration would benefit their children, and they were right to question it. They appealed the decision to the Fifth Circuit Court. The Fifth Circuit upheld the lower court's verdict.
So those parents and proponents of full and immediate integration did what people do when the courts have ruled and the system still isn't moving — they wrote letters. To the U.S. Attorney General.
To the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. To the Federal Assistance Program.
Urging another review. Keeping the pressure on. It worked.
In the fall of 1965, the Georgetown School Board agreed to a plan that would complete integration of the school system by September 1967. And the Carver School was permanently closed due to integration. That last line has weight to it.
A school that existed because Black children were excluded, that survived and grew and produced generations of educated young people because of the determination of one principal and an entire community — closed not because it failed, but because the walls that made it necessary were finally, officially, coming down. The marker stands where the school stood. So does the story.
What the marker says
The first school for African American students in Georgetown was established in the early 20th century. Called "The Colored School," the institution served grades 1 through 8 and provided the only local educational opportunities for African Americans. The school's principal, Mr. S. C. Marshall, was an outspoken advocate of higher education. A scholar himself, he persuaded the school board to allow him to provide classes through the high school level. He named the new program "The Georgetown Colored High School," and the first student enrolled in 1913. A new high school building was erected in 1923 due to increasing enrollment. When Marshall left the school in 1930, it was renamed Marshall School in his honor. The name was changed to George Washington Carver in the 1940s. In 1962, the parents of seventeen Carver students who had been denied admission to Georgetown's white schools filed a lawsuit in U. S. District Court to force integration. The court ordered the Georgetown Independent School District to integrate one grade level per year beginning with the first grad.e Partial integration began in the fall of 1964. Convinced that gradual integration would not benefit their children, African American parents appealed the decision to the Fifth Circuit Court which upheld the lower court's verdict. Proponents of full and immediate integration engaged in a letter-writing campaign to the U. S. Attorney General, the U. S. Department of Health, education and Welfare, and the Federal Assistance Program urging another review of the case. In the fall of 1965, the Georgetown School Board agreed to a plan to complete integration of the school system by September 1967. The Carver School was permanently closed due to integration. (1999)