DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Tueria Dell Marshall. Now, some stories come down to us clean and complete, every chapter accounted for. And then there are stories like this one — where the man himself did everything right, built something lasting, and still managed to slip quietly out of the record at the very end.
That's the particular ache at the heart of Tueria Dell Marshall. He was born in 1883, a native Texan through and through. He pursued his education at Wiley College and Prairie View Normal — two institutions that shaped generations of Black scholars in this state — and when he came out the other side, he came out a teacher.
He landed in Dallas and worked his way through several schools, earning whatever it was you had to earn to be trusted with something bigger. In 1939, he was named principal of Lincoln High School — the city's second high school for African American students. Let that settle for a second.
Second. Meaning Dallas had already built one, and the need was so great they had to build another. And they put T.D.
Marshall in charge of it. He held that post for sixteen years, shepherding students through some of the most turbulent decades this country has ever seen, right up until his retirement in 1955. But the man didn't confine himself to the schoolhouse walls.
T.D. Marshall co-founded the Dallas Star Post, a weekly newspaper. He organized the Wiley College Extension School.
He was, by any measure, a builder — of minds, of institutions, of community. He died in 1960. And here's where the story takes its quiet, melancholy turn.
He was buried in this very cemetery, near his beloved Lincoln High. Near the school he'd given sixteen years of his life to. That part, at least, feels right.
But the exact location of his grave — the precise spot in this ground where Tueria Dell Marshall rests — is now unknown. A man who built so much, and yet the earth doesn't quite give him back to us. Sometimes the marker on the ground matters more than folks realize.
Sometimes it's all we've got.
What the marker says
(1883-1960) A native of Texas, Tueria Dell Marshall attended Wiley College and Prairie View Normal. He became a teacher in Dallas and worked at several schools before being named principal of Lincoln, the city's second high school for African American students, in 1939. He served in that capacity until retirement in 1955. In addition to education work, T.D. Marshall co-founded the Dallas Star Post, a weekly newspaper, and organized Wiley College Extension School. He died in 1960 and was buried in this cemetery, near his beloved Lincoln High, but the exact location of his grave is now unknown. Recorded – 2005