Blackwell School
Marfa, Presidio County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Education for local children of Mexican descent dates from 1889, when the former Methodist Church became a schoolhouse. The school, named for longtime principal Jesse Blackwell, served hundreds of Hispanic children up to ninth grade. Students were told to speak only English on campus; Spanish words written on slips of paper were buried on the grounds in a mock funeral ceremony. The school closed in 1965 with integration of Marfa schools. The building sat vacant until preservation efforts by the Blackwell School Alliance, formed in 2006. The one-story schoolhouse has a modified hip roof, front-gabled entry, and plastered 24-inch thick adobe walls on a stone foundation. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2010
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
From 1889, children of Mexican descent in Marfa were schooled apart from their Anglo peers, first in a former Methodist church and later in this thick-walled adobe building named for principal Jesse Blackwell. Generations of Hispanic students learned here under an English-only rule so strict that Spanish words were symbolically 'buried' in a mock funeral. The school closed in 1965 when Marfa's schools integrated, and preservationists have since worked to save it.
Why it matters
The Blackwell School is a rare surviving witness to the segregation of Mexican American children and the long struggle toward equal education.
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Related people
- · Jesse Blackwell
Related events
- · Integration of Marfa schools, 1965
Themes & tags
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