Palacios Colored School
Palacios, Matagorda County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Founded in the 1920s, Palacios Colored School was the city's first school for African Americans. In 1931, materials from a razed building were used in a new two-room school on Humphrey Street. This building was moved to 8th Street and later expanded. The new Palacios Colored School opened on October 2, 1939. The cross-gabled floor plan features clapboard siding, three projecting wings and banks of 9-over-9 double-hung windows. Between 1940 and 1946, the student body grew from 37 to 81 students. When Palacios Independent School District integrated in 1963, the campus closed. Open for about 40 years, Palacios Colored School symbolized the African American community's struggle against racial inequality and their dedication to education. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2019
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in the 1920s, the Palacios Colored School was this Gulf Coast town's first school for African American children. Built anew in 1939 from an earlier two-room structure, its cross-gabled frame building with banks of tall windows served a student body that doubled to 81 pupils in the early 1940s. When Palacios schools finally integrated in 1963 the campus closed, ending some four decades as the heart of Black education in the community.
Why it matters
It testifies to the segregation-era struggle of African American families who built and sustained their own schools, and to the promise—and closure—that desegregation brought to such institutions.
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Related events
- · integration of Palacios ISD, 1963
Themes & tags
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