Booker T. Washington School in Gainesville, TX

On my way back from meeting Mr. Bill Webb, Sallie Capps's grandson, in Oklahoma City, I stopped by a couple of historical locations in the quaint, steadily-growing North Texas City of Gainesville. While eating a double cheeseburger from McDonalds, I walked around the former location of the Booker T. Washington School, the old Gainesville Colored School. Although only a pile of loose bricks and a historical marker remain (the facility was sadly demolished in 2014), I felt as if I had stepped back in time and was able to mix among the ghosts. In this blog post, I intend to provide a brief history of the institution that left a significant mark on Gainesville.

A photograph of the Booker T. Washington School during demolition in 2014. The brick structure was built by the WPA in 1939. (photograph from The Living New Deal)

Island Sparks, a young mulatto whose passion for learning was infectious, began tutoring the colored children in the City of Gainesville in the early 1880s since there was only a school for white children - during the Reconstruction Era, this was the case in many Texas cities. The city's school district (created in 1882) ultimately decided to erect a school specifically for African American children in 1886. A $450 plot of land on the west side of Gainesville was chosen as the location, and the city spent $5,000 to construct a spacious two-story, wood-framed building, which was later equipped with student tables, chalkboards, and pencil boxes. Originally called the Gainesville Colored School, the facility was one of the only 19 black schools operating in Texas in the late 1880s. 186 students, ranging in ages between 5 to 17 years-old, were enrolled on the first day of classes, yet only three teachers presided over the crowded classrooms... a tragic nightmare for any educator that has faced a large, overbearing class. Despite the impressive facility, the city only allocated $5,000 for the colored school's annual budget - 1/3 of the white schools' budgets.

A photograph of the grassy site where Booker T. Washington School once stood. Notice the church and gymnasium in the background. (photograph from author's collections)

The school's initial graduating class had four seniors. The city's renowned newspaper, the Gainesville Daily Hesperian (now known as the Gainesville Daily Register) noted the significance of the festivities: "This quartet will be the first colored graduates of the Gainesville School and will mark a noted epoch in the history of public education in the city, so far as the consideration of the colored people goes, that will forcibly remind the people of the North that the educational welfare for the colored children in Gainesville is carefully looked after by the city Board of Education." Since not many graduated from the colored institution - as students left their classes after a few years of schooling to work and support their families - exiting the school with a high school diploma became a prestigious and rare ritual. The motto for the class of 1947 reflects the school's seniors' desire to graduate and join the rank of "distinguished alumni": "Not by Brawn, by Brain." The colored school was appropriately renamed Booker T. Washington School in 1927, in honor of the esteemed African American educator and Civil Rights activist (who had peacefully died in November 1915).

The base of flagpole that once sat outside of the Booker T. Washington School can be seen in this photograph. The school's historical marker is in the background. (photograph from author's collections)

The modernizing student body outgrew the original building, and a new brick structure was erected by the laborers of the Works Progress Administration in 1939 (this was part of FDR's New Deal plan to revive the American economy during the Great Depression). The Booker T. Washington School "was the center of our world, education wise and socially..." alumnus Don Williams once said in an interview. "We knew the teachers and they knew us. They were a part of our lives before, during and after school." The school had become part of the larger Gainesville story, influencing the scholarly pursuits of many talented young adults... thus, it was a tough time for students and teachers when the school closed and merged with the white schools in the city. After the monumental Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1954, which required all American public schools to integrate, the Gainesville School Board decided to "abolish" Booker T. Washington School and transfer its black students to the white Newsome Dougherty Memorial High School in 1965. The African American students suddenly found themselves in a different world, one that was not comforting nor supportive at first. Mr. Williams noted the difficult transition in his interview: "...it was the end of a community in which black students were suddenly in a world they did not know." The white teachers were not adequately prepared for the new black students, and their white peers often had mixed feelings on integration. The African American teachers from Booker T. Washington School were found jobs in the school district, but not necessarily in their area of expertise, initiating a significant amount of challenges for them too. In spite of the challenges, the students and teachers from the Booker T. Washington School soon thrived in their new environment as dedicated intellectuals and community leaders.

Although the Booker T. Washington school building was demolished 8 years ago, you can still notice the brick outline of the facility. (photograph from author's collections)

After Gainesville's integration of schools, the Booker T. Washington School was boarded up and fell into disrepair. The city erected a historical marker on the property in 1986, 100 years after the colored school had opened. Alumni and staff reconvened and attended the marker ceremony. The building was razed in 2014 and most of the bricks were recycled. The surviving objects that remain in place serve as a reminder that the City of Gainesville gave young black children a quality public education when many areas of the state did not.

2021-2022 Teaching Reflection

I have recently taken some time to reflect on my first year teaching high school history (2021-2022). I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and am immensely blessed to work in a top-notch school district and inspire future generations of leaders to achieve their goals. I never had a bad day in the classroom; my negative emotions evaporated whenever I walked into my classroom (which looks like a museum due to all the antiqued treasures in there!) because the students gave me energy! I labored days and nights to plan engaging, interactive activities for my students, where they had unique opportunities to learn writing, collaboration, and oral communication skills - skills that they will need to succeed in college. During my lectures, I elaborated on the key concepts, answered every student question, and drew many connections between the historical events and my students' prior knowledge. Moreover, we consistently practiced multiple-choice, document-based, and longer-essay questions in preparation for the AP exam. Most of my fabulous students took the exam and performed very well - 61% of my students passed with a score of a 3 or higher, while 33% of those students received a commended score of a 4 or 5. Regardless of the exam scores, I was very proud of all my students, who went above-and-beyond in their classwork, learned new skills that they will further develop in their lifetimes, and (hopefully) found a new appreciation for United States history! I am incredibly thankful for the support that I received during my first year at Coppell ISD, including from Diane de Waal, Kevin Casey, Laura Springer, Kim Pierce, as well as the staff at iTeach (my alternative teacher-certification program - which was a significant amount of after-school work!) and Mr. Roy Culberson. This year (my second year teaching high school history and fourth year overall in public education), I have been tasked to teach APUSH and regular U.S. history... I am very fortunate to again have wonderful students who are passionate about education and enthusiastic to learn history! I am really looking forward to continue to change the world in a positive, profound manner, one step at a time. I have put some photographs from last year in this blog post, all from my collections.

The first day of my 2021-2022 school year; last year was my first teaching high school students. I fell in love with my job and have since reconfirmed my decision in staying at Coppell High School for 30 years!!

Phoenix & May were stellar students and performers - May sewed a colorful Antebellum-Era dress by hand for a project! I was honored to be their outstanding, favorite teacher at the theater's teacher appreciation night last year!

My swimmers have a special place in my heart since I used to be a swimmer. Aaryak was a terrific AP student and a gold-medal swimmer in the pool. I enjoy watching swim meets (and this make me miss the sport I used to devote many hours to...).

Shereef, Riva & Aditya presented me with a framed portrait of the Queen at the end of last year (I used to talk about the Queen and Royal Family a lot in class). I now have a "shrine" to the Queen behind my desk.

Alejandro was a super-star in the classroom and on the soccer field!! I was very proud of his academic accomplishments, and humbled to have been recognized as his teacher at the soccer teacher appreciation game last year.

Lillian was a quiet yet studious scholar. She was also a tremendously-talented athlete on the soccer field. I was recognized for being an outstanding teacher at a soccer game last year.

Addison was a diligent scholar and star athlete on the volleyball court!! I thoroughly enjoyed watching several of her JV (and now varsity) volleyball games. I was honored to be Addison's teacher at the volleyball teacher appreciation nights in 2021 & 2022.

My APUSH 2nd period were my loudest class yet they always did their work. They were also my "role-model" class because Mr. Culberson from iTeach monitored my teaching during this class (the students were on their best behavior on those observation days!).

My APUSH 1st period... although the class was early in the morning, this group of students knew how to make me laugh and concentrate on loving history! They were a fantastic group of scholars.

Mr. Andrew Schultz was a cheerful, motivated scholar and athlete. I was honored to be his APUSH teacher and recognized at a baseball game last year! Go Cowboys!!

This group of young ladies were wonderful students and knew how to make me laugh and smile (even on my bad days!). Pictured are Nivi, Mithilia, Hanvitha, and Shivani.

A photo of myself with three top-notch AP students, Priyanka, Brianna, and Aaron. All three of them were consistently smiling when they entered my classroom!

Phoenix was one of my best APUSH students and a talented individual. I saw them perform in a silent performance of "Lord of the Flies" and it was AMAZING!

One of my Sidekick students Nandini took this action shot when I was presenting material on the American Revolution. I am not the best with technology, yet my students were able to help me resolve tech-related issues.

Dhruva was only a sophomore when he took my junior-level AP class, yet he showed great maturity and academic excellence. His hard work in class paid off when he scored a perfect 5 on the AP exam.