Booker T. Washington School
Borger, Hutchinson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON SCHOOL TWO YEARS AFTER BORGER’S FOUNDING, A 1928 SCHOLASTIC CENSUS COUNTED FIVE AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS IN TWO FAMILIES. BETHEL BAPTIST CHURCH, ON THE CITY’S WEST SIDE, HOSTED THE FIRST SCHOOL FOR BLACK CHILDREN, WITH MRS. TALLIE ANDERSON SMITH, WHO STAYED FOR ABOUT FIFTEEN YEARS, HIRED AS THE FIRST TEACHER FOR SIX GRADES. IN 1929, THE SCHOOL, STILL HOSTED BY THE CHURCH, MOVED TO THE NORTH SIDE OF BORGER. IN 1931, IN A ONE-ROOM FRAME BUILDING AT BRAIN AND 11TH STREETS, THE BORGER ISD ESTABLISHED ITS FIRST SCHOOL FOR BLACK STUDENTS, NAMED BOOKER T. WASHINGTON SCHOOL FOR THE NOTED EDUCATOR. IN 1936 THE CAMPUS INCLUDED A ONE-TEACHER SCHOOL AND AS MANY AS FIFTY STUDENTS. R. G. COFIELD AND HIS WIFE, MAYE DELLA, CAME TO BORGER IN 1946 TO FURTHER EDUCATION OF BLACK CHILDREN. UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF MR. COFIELD AS PRINCIPAL AND HIS WIFE AS A TEACHER, THE FACULTY GREW FROM TWO TO SEVEN, A NEW BRICK BUILDING WAS COMPLETED, AND TWO FORMER BARRACKS FROM PAMPA AIR FORCE BASE WERE ADAPTED AS A GYMNASIUM AND ADDITIONAL CLASSROOMS. THE SCHOOL WAS ALSO EXTENDED TO TWELVE GRADES, WITH JOHN L. MILES THE FIRST GRADUATE IN 1949. THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM CONTINUED TO GROW, AND THE DRAGONS AND DRAGONETTES EXCELLED AT BASKETBALL AND OTHER SPORTS. AFTER BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION IN 1954 INITIATED NATIONWIDE DESEGREGATION OF SCHOOLS, THE BOARD OF EDUCATION VOTED TO INTEGRATE GRADES SEVEN THROUGH TWELVE IN SPRING 1956. THAT FALL, BOOKER T. WASHINGTON BECAME AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AND OLDER BLACK STUDENTS WENT TO SAM HOUSTON JUNIOR HIGH AND BORGER SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS. AS A RESULT OF DESEGREGATION, BOOKER T. WASHINGTON SCHOOL CLOSED IN 1964, AND MOST OF THE TEACHERS LEFT BORGER TO SEEK OTHER JOBS. THE SCHOOL IS FONDLY REMEMBERED AS AN IMPORTANT PART OF BORGER’S AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY. (2013)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When the oil-boom town of Borger counted just five African American students in 1928, their first classes met under the roof of Bethel Baptist Church with Tallie Anderson Smith as teacher. By 1931 the district had opened a one-room school named for educator Booker T. Washington, and under principal R. G. Cofield after 1946 it grew into a twelve-grade campus with new buildings, a proud faculty, and championship Dragons and Dragonettes teams. Desegregation after Brown v. Board reshaped it into an elementary school and finally closed it in 1964.
Why it matters
Its arc from a church classroom to a thriving school and then to closure captures the whole Jim Crow-to-integration story of Black education in one Panhandle town.
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Related people
- · Tallie Anderson Smith
- · R. G. Cofield
- · Maye Della Cofield
- · John L. Miles
Related events
- · Brown v. Board of Education, 1954
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
East Ward Elementary School
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