William Rubio Carbajal
Goliad, Goliad County, Texas
Marker Inscription
WILLIAM RUBIO CARBAJAL THE FIRST MEXICAN AMERICAN TO ATTEND AND GRADUATE FROM GOLIAD HIGH SCHOOL WAS WILLIAM RUBIO CARBAJAL. THE EFFORT TO GET HIM ADMITTED TO THE HIGH SCHOOL AND RECEIVE THE SAME EDUCATION AS ANGLO AMERICANS WAS AN IMPORTANT STRUGGLE FOR MEXICAN AMERICANS IN GOLIAD COUNTY AND IN TEXAS. WILLIAM WAS BORN IN MAY OF 1915, AND WAS THE NINTH GENERATION OF HIS FAMILY TO BE BORN IN TEXAS. HIS ANCESTORS HAD SERVED THE U.S. MILITARY IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, TEXAS REVOLUTION, CIVIL WAR, INDIAN WARS AND WORLD WAR I. WILLIAM ATTENDED A SEGREGATED PUBLIC SCHOOL IN THE CITY OF GOLIAD. THE MEXICAN SCHOOL ENDED WITH THE SEVENTH GRADE AND CONSISTED OF A SMALL 20 X 30 FOOT ROOM WITH UP TO SIXTY CHILDREN IN ATTENDANCE. WILLIAM’S PRINCIPAL, FRANK WALLACE, BELIEVED HE SHOULD GO ON TO THE HIGH SCHOOL EVEN THOUGH IT WAS FOR WHITES ONLY. WITH THE SUPPORT OF WALLACE, WILLIAM ASKED PERMISSION FROM THE SCHOOL BOARD TO ATTEND THE HIGH SCHOOL. HIS REQUEST WAS DENIED. THE FAMILY CONTINUED TO FIGHT AND ASKED FOR ASSISTANCE FROM THE SAN ANTONIO CHAPTER OF THE LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS (LULAC) IN 1932. LULAC RESPONDED BY FORMING THE GOLIAD CHAPTER WHICH STILL EXISTS TODAY. THE LULAC COUNCIL, FRANK WALLACE AND THE CARBAJAL FAMILY BROUGHT THE FIGHT TO THE TEXAS BOARD OF EDUCATION IN AUSTIN WHICH GRANTED HIM THE RIGHT TO ATTEND GOLIAD HIGH SCHOOL. THREE DAYS OF WAITING ON THE STEPS OF THE SCHOOL PASSED BEFORE THEY FINALLY ALLOWED HIM TO ENTER. WILLIAM EXCELLED IN HIS STUDIES, PARTICIPATED IN SCHOOL PLAYS AND MADE ALL-DISTRICT ON THE FOOTBALL TEAM. IN 1935, WILLIAM BECAME THE FIRST MEXICAN AMERICAN TO EARN A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA FROM THE GOLIAD HIGH SCHOOL.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In segregated 1930s Goliad, Mexican American children were confined to a cramped one-room school that ended at seventh grade, while the high school admitted only white students. Backed by his principal Frank Wallace and the newly formed Goliad chapter of LULAC, the Carbajal family carried their fight to the Texas Board of Education, which finally ordered the school to admit William. After three days waiting on the schoolhouse steps he was let in, and in 1935 he became the first Mexican American to graduate from Goliad High School.
Why it matters
Carbajal's struggle was an early skirmish in the long Mexican American campaign against school segregation in Texas, presaging the legal battles that would reshape American education a generation later.
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Related people
- · William Rubio Carbajal
- · Frank Wallace
Related events
- · Founding of the Goliad LULAC chapter
Themes & tags
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