Posted on July 17, 2024 by
The Blackwell School once practiced de facto segregation, forcing Mexican American children to attend separate and underfunded schools from their white peers has now been recognized as a National historic landmark with the help of UTSA Alumni.
Blackwell School
In an Email this week, recent UTSA History graduate program alumni Cristobal Lopez announced to the department staff great news of the completed project which he has had the pleasure in taking part in. "I am delighted to share that as of this morning [July 17th, 2024], Blackwell School National Historic Site is officially established! It is unit 430 of the National Park Service." The success of Cristobal and the National Park Conservation Association is monumental in establishing Mexican American History as The Blackwell School site was almost repurposed, erasing the importance of the period. Across the Southwest of the United States, school districts once enforced “de facto segregation,” which in education forced Mexican American children to attend separate under funded schools from their white peers. The Blackwell School was one such institution. The site once saved from demolition in 2006 has now been recognized as a National historic landmark.
Beginning in 2018, the Blackwell School Alliance, comprised of students who once attended the institution, partnered with the National Parks Conservation Association for a public campaign to obtain National Park Service protection and recognition for the school. Along with the recent addition of unit 430, the NPCA has led the charge for new national park sites dedicated to diverse history, including the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument, Amache National Historic Site, and Stonewall National Monument. The national parks system must tell the full American story, which includes stories like the Blackwell School.
Cristobal Lopez continued his email to the faculty here at UTSA saying, "I am immensely grateful for the partnership that UTSA has had with NPCA in this historic establishment. Moreover, I am eternally grateful for UTSA and the History Department in helping me find my career path...Thank you all for having a hand in this and for helping make history!" Latino history at Blackwell, and minority history at large, is greatly important in understanding our country’s past, navigating its present, and building for its better future.
Read more at the NPS release here
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