H. B. Pemberton

Pemberton's schooling did not end with Wiley. The Handbook of Texas says he earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Illinois Wesleyan University, led the Colored Teachers State Association of Texas, sat on the Texas Interracial Commission and served on the board of the Texas YMCA's colored branches. He and Norella had ten children, among them Loretta, who became a Marshall public school teacher. Central School was later renamed Pemberton High School. It closed as a public school in 1988, and Wiley College acquired it as the H. B. Pemberton High School Heritage Center.

What the plaque says

H. B. Pemberton Henry Bertram Pemberton was born on January 20, 1867 to Charles and Eliza Pemberton. In 1876, Charles and his family moved to Marshall and purchased a house near Wiley College. He died in 1883, leaving Henry to care for his mother and sisters. Henry graduated magna cum laude from Wiley in 1888. Following graduation, he married Norella Hawley, also a graduate of Wiley. Pemberton, considered to be the first college graduate of Wiley, was immediately hired to teach English in the Elementary Department. He worked his way into higher positions until he became the Chairman of the Department of Math and Science. In 1894, Pemberton was hired as the principal of the Colored School in Marshall and he immediately saw the need for a new school building. Given permission but no funding, Pemberton arranged for a loan on his personal credit and constructed a two-story four room building on what is now Travis and Alamo streets. The loan was repaid by the African American community and the school experienced rapid growth. Pemberton guided the expansion of the Black schools in Marshall, and attracted educated and qualified teachers which created a solid atmosphere for scholarly education in the Black community. He also served in a number of regional and state professional and civic organizations, and was a charter member of the local NAACP chapter. Petitions signed by thousands of Harrison County citizens in 1940 led the Marshall school board to name Central High, the school he founded, in his honor. Pemberton died on April 27, 1944 but remains an inspiration for his courage, leadership and his dedication to education. (2014)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Starr Family Home State Historic Site — 0.6 mi
  Maplecroft, the 1871 Greek Revival house Frank Starr built in Marshall, with Ruth Starr Blake's glass and china, an 1880s kitchen restored in 2019 and a retirement home built for a formerly enslaved person.
• Harrison County Historical Museum — 0.9 mi
  Galleries in Marshall's 1901 courthouse that run from the Caddo to the present, with Wiley College, Lady Bird Johnson's inaugural gown and a military gallery across the square in Memorial City Hall.
• Texas and Pacific Railway Depot and Museum — 1.3 mi
  The only surviving building of the Texas and Pacific shops at Marshall, a 1912 Mission Revival depot saved from demolition in the 1990s, still an Amtrak stop, with a railway museum and a Mikado locomotive.
• Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge — 15 mi
  Wetlands and woods on part of a former ammunition plant, now a refuge for wood ducks, prothonotary warblers and alligator snapping turtles, with four easy trails and a free visitor center on a Ramsar lake.

More markers nearby

• James Leonard Farmer, Sr. — steps away
• Melvin B. Tolson — steps away
• Wiley College — steps away
• Matthew W. Dogan, Sr. — 0.2 mi