For 56 years, the Blackwell School educated the Mexican and Mexican American children of Marfa, Texas. Segregated by prejudice rather than law, this school was a symbol of resilience as the town’s Hispanic residents struggled to maintain their culture amid racist treatment and unequal educational opportunities.
Today, the Blackwell School National Historic Site holds the stories and memories of those students and faculty that preservered through Marfa’s de facto segregation. This site serves as a reminder of the lasting impact of this prejudice on the American people of this town and similar towns across the country.
Once part of a larger complex, today the Blackwell School consists of two buildings. The original 1909 schoolhouse and 1927 Band Hall have both been altered over the years, but they still retain their integrity and demonstrate the orginial adobe structure and clay tile construction representative of local construction methods and the time. Additional buildings that were once part of a slightly larger campus were demolished in 1969.
