Blackshear Elementary School
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Opened in 1891 to provide free public education to African-American children in the community then known as Gregory Town, Blackshear Elementary School was known in earlier years as School no. 3, Gregory Town School and Gregory School. In 1936, it was named for Edward L. Blackshear (1862-1919), a 19th-century teacher and principal who left Austin in 1895 to become head of Prairie View College. Programs and facilities for Blackshear students, including the establishment of a school library in 1934, expanded as the number of students increased. Now serving an ethnically diverse population in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade classes, Blackshear is an important part of Austin's educational history. (2001)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Opened in 1891 in the community then called Gregory Town, this school provided free public education to African-American children under a succession of names — School No. 3, Gregory Town School, Gregory School — before being renamed in 1936 for Edward L. Blackshear, a teacher and principal who left Austin in 1895 to head Prairie View College. A school library arrived in 1934, and facilities expanded as enrollment grew. The school now serves an ethnically diverse student body from pre-K through sixth grade.
Why it matters
Blackshear Elementary stands as a monument to Black education in the segregated South, where communities built and sustained their own schools and honored the educators who led them.
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Related people
- · Edward L. Blackshear
Themes & tags
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