Historic Mexican American segregated school is now a national park
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The Blackwell School opened in 1909 for Mexican American students. Photo: National Parks Conservation Association
What was once a segregated school for Mexican American students in West Texas is now a national park.
Why it matters: The Blackwell School in Marfa, Texas, is only the second national park site in the country dedicated to modern Latino history and explores a chapter of our American story that many people do not know about, says Kyle Groetzinger of the National Parks Conservation Association.
- The site will be preserved, after years of pressure from Latino activists seeking to save sites connected to the nation's history of racial segregation and terror.
Catch up quick: President Biden signed the Blackwell School National Historic Site Act in 2022, but the government was waiting for a land transfer to formally take over two of the school's buildings.
- That land transfer was complete last month, and the site is now a park within the National Park Service.
- A ribbon-cutting event is planned for the designation in mid-September, per Groetzinger.
Flashback: Opened in 1909, the adobe building served Mexican American students who were barred from attending the town's white-only school.
- Former students would later recall the emotional abuse and discrimination they suffered at the Blackwell School.
- Some teachers made students write Spanish words on paper, place those papers in a box, and bury "Mr. Spanish" in a symbolic funeral in front of the school, according to the 2015 PBS Voces documentary "Children of Giant."
- The school shut down in 1965, and many of its buildings were razed.
Zoom in: The National Park site includes the original building and a smaller classroom built in 1927 known as Band Hall.
- The buildings include photos, memorabilia and interpretive panels that feature first-hand accounts from former students and teachers.
- Groetzinger says the National Park designation will give the site more resources to tell the story.
The intrigue: Several Blackwell students had minor roles in the George Stevens film, "Giant," which stars Liz Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean.
- The movie was about the racism Mexican Americans face and was based on the novel of the same title by Edna Ferber.
- Many of the Mexican American children who starred in the film couldn't see it when it was released because the theaters in nearby towns were segregated.
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