Black Education in Chambers County

The schools opened in a hostile county. Chambers County's Black school at Wallisville began in 1869 with Freedmen's Bureau help, the same year General Reynolds tried to remove local officials who could not take the Iron Clad Oath. The Ku Klux Klan opposed the Union League, which sought to enroll Black voters, and others resisted any improvement in the lives of former slaves. By 1898 the county ran thirteen White schools with 324 pupils and ten Black schools with 211. The 1876 constitution undid many Reconstruction reforms, and the white primary and poll tax followed.

What the plaque says

Black Education in Chambers County The Texas Legislature formed Chambers County in 1858, and Wallisville became the county's first seat of government. The 1869 Texas Constitution called for the creation of free public schools for white and black children to be partially funded by the state. That same year, the Freedmen's Bureau was instrumental in having a school for African Americans built in Wallisville. The one-room schoolhouse, later used for other purposes, served students for many years. During the 1879-1880 school year, approximately 60 students attended classes there. By the late 1880s, the county's African American students were served by schools in Double Bayou, Wallisville, Black Branch, Turtle Bayou, Old River and Cedar Bayou. Like many early Texas schools, each organized annually, and the school year was determined by how many months a community could pay a teacher. At the turn of the century, Chambers County supported 28 schools and more than 800 students, black and white. At that time, the community of Anahuac began growing, and its black population sent students to classes at St. James Methodist Church, which organized in 1908, the same year Anahuac became county seat. Throughout the 20th century, Chambers County's education system improved with the organization of school districts and expanded state standards for educators. Two high schools in the county -- George Washington Carver and Double Bayou -- accommodated the older African American students. By 1966, all of Chambers County schools had been desegregated, and many of the facilities and staff from the former black schools were absorbed into the new integrated system as county residents moved into a new era of education. (2006)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site — 24 mi
  The 1,200 acres of coastal prairie and marsh where the Texas Revolution ended in eighteen minutes, and the 567-foot shaft of fossil-studded limestone that has stood over them since 1939.
• Space Center Houston — 30 mi
  The visitor center of NASA's Johnson Space Center at Clear Lake, with flown capsules, a shuttle replica riding a 747, and tram tours to Mission Control and a Saturn V.

More markers nearby

• Chambers County — steps away
• Events at Anahuac Leading to the Texas Revolution — 0.5 mi
• Lone Star Canal — 0.6 mi
• Home of Thomas Jefferson Chambers — 0.7 mi