HomeMy WebLinkAboutLincoln School Marker Application Corrections April 23, 1990
To Members, Brazos County Historical Commission
Bryan, Texas
In Re Marker for Lincoln School
College Station, Texas
The title of the application is incorrect, and out of harmony with the
statements made on page 1, paragraph 1. The application should be confined
to "Black Education in College Station" and not include Black education in
Brazos County., for even the treatment of that subject for the county is
woefully incomplete.
The City of College Station was incorporated in 1938. In the 1930s and 1940s,
before 1942, there was no such thing as "junior high schools. The first
seven grades were known as the "elementary school, and grades 8,9,10, and 11
constituted "high school." In 1942 a 12th grade was added to the public school
system in Texas.
Page 1, para. 2 - -When were Edna Earle Tarrow and Thay Myrtle Owens teachers
and what was their background? Sentences one and two ought to be rewritten.
Start with one teacher and then add the second. Where was St. Matthis Church?
What was the school in the Wellborn Community - -its name and establishment?
Why mention it here?
The "Endnotes" on page 7, with the exception of nos. 7, 8, and 24 are
worthless. You should identify each person with the first use of his /her name.
Were the interviews recorded, transcribed, and filed (where ?) with the narrator's
signature? This is the procedure in oral history. Note 57 should show the
date of the Bryan Daily Eagle, not leaving it to the bibliography. Did you
ever think of using "Ibid." when citing the same reference in succession, such as
4 Thay Myrtle Owens
5 Ibid.
when referring to the exact same source?
Page 1, para. 3 - - -If the A &M Consolidated School District did not acquire
the site for Lincoln School until December, 1944, then how could a new campus
be established in 1941 and a school opened on it for the 1941 -1942 school
year? Clear documentation is needed. School board minutes and deed records
need to be consulted.
Page 1, para. 4 - -- Mention is made of the removal of the Negro high school
to the A&M Consolidated Negro School. We have not been told that prior to
this time there was a Negro High School in College Station, and certainly
Kemp High School for Negroes in Bryan was not moved to College Station.
Were there separate Negro schools at Peach Creek, Wellborn, Millican, and
Navasota? Were students from a Negro school in Navasota bussed to College
Station? Certainly, White children in Navasota were nct consolidated in the_
wni,.e scklool in College Station; and there is no proof t :,at students attending a
Negro school in Navasota were consolidated into the Negro school in College
Station.
2
Page 1, para. 6, 2nd sentence - -- It is incorrect to say that two classes
were combined in each classroom. The students of two different grade levels
may have been assigned to the same room.
Page 1, last para. The information contained on page 4 concerning the
burning of the school might be placed here.
Page 2, top two lines - -- Was consolidation of Black schools given up?
Page 2, para. 1 -- Document voter approval of the bond issue. Note 25
ought to be more specific in citation, and not rest on Reidel's memory.
Page 2, para 2 - -- Need specific citation either from Board Minutes awarding
contracts and accepting the structures from contractors when buildings had
been completed.
Page 2, para. 3, line 1 -- Cite letter of State Department of Education
conveying notification of certification with specific date.
Page 2, para. 5, line 5 - -- What is meant by "their district "? Where was
Smith High School?
Page 2, para. 6, line 1 - -- Change word "player" to "member" and cite
better source for Note 33.
Page 2, para. 7-- - -What were the racial tensions at the time? If you
mean there were no restaurants or eating places where Negroes could go to
• eat, you are racist. Negroes might not have been accepted where Whites were
served, but there were separate eating places or restaurants for Negroes, where
Whites were not served. The last line of this paragraph is presumptuous and
unacceptable as historic fact.
Page 2, last para. hardly supports the last line of paragraph 7.
Page 5, para. 4, line 1 = The word "vivid" does not go with "graduates
and teachers." "Memories" may be vivid, but not "graduates and teachers."
The latter may be visible and they may be active.
Page 5, para. 4, last line. It would be better to say that "The association
is comprised far composed] of former students who attended Linchol School.
There is no indication that Brazos County school records stored in
bus barn and elsewhere in Bryan or College Station have been consulted, nor
has the published reports of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the
State Department of Education, and the State Education Agency been consulted.
School district lines were set specifically, and the districts were required
to make reports on teachers, their certificates, the annual school census, and
upon the basis of census records, funds of state money were allocated to each
school district. These reports carried lists of school districts and enrollment
figures. The information is there.
There are many sources that should have been used. I 1 t only a few of them,
46 to give some idea of what is available:
Texas. Education Agency. Annual statistical report, 1952/53 -
Texas. Education Agency. Handbook for Local School Officials.
r -3-
Texas. Reports of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1871 - 1874/75 - -;
later known as Report of the State Board of Education; or as
Report of the State Department of Education
Texas. Education Agency. Ro*r of Texas School Libraries.
Texas. Education Agency. Texas Public Schools, 1854 -1954;
Centennial Handbook (Austin, 1954).
Texas. Education Agency. Texas School District Maps (Austin, 1955).
Texas. State Board of Education. Report, 1876/1878 -
Parks, Deborah Lynn. "History of the City of College Station, 1938-
1987," M.A. thesis, Texas A&M University, May, 1984. Directed
by H. H. Lang, Chairman; Claude H. Hall, and Melvin C.Schroeder,
none of whom are Texas historians. It is a poor thesis.
The only mention of Lincoln School was to say that it was
opened in 1949 (p. 118), and burning of the school, and
leasing of the area for recreation purposes to the City of
College Station. (pp. 146 -147).
County Judge of Brazos County served as Suprentendent of Schools, 1884 -1907.
Brazos County Heritage and History Bibliogralahy compiled by
Paul R. Scott, Nancy Elizabeth Ross, and Bill Page:
Brazos County School Superintendent, 1933 -1966. TAMU Archives
RHRD Collection (Unprocessed files from the Brazos County
School Superintendent. Permanent records include budgets,
financial reports, annual reports from the common school
districts, lists of teachers, board meeting material, etc.).
Manuscript.
Document. Brazos County Superintendent of Schools. Annual
of Brazos County Schools. (Published in about 1914 ?; no copy seen.
This item was apparently mentioned in a similar report for
Burelson County published in 1914. The citation comes from
The Official Publications of American Counties, 1937, page 475.)
"Educational Data in Brazos Districts Pertaining a n zos County by ist acts g to
Valuation, Costs, Pupils, Teachers, Grades Taught, and Length
of School Term in 1934 - 1935," In Report of the Results of the
Texas Statewise School Adequacy Survey, pp. 1724 -1726.
Texas A&M Library, regular stacks, call no. #L / 204 / C 5.3 / 1937a
W. L. Hughes, "History of A &M Consolidated School," Battalion,
July 19, 1945, p. 2; July 26, 1945, p. 2; August 2, 1945,
p. 2; and August 9, 1945, p. 2. (TAMU Library # Micofilm /
N / 560.)
W. L. Hughes. A Project in Rural School Consolidation and Its
Contribution to the Solution of the Rural School Problems of
Brazos County. M.S. thesis, Texas A&M College, 1922 (TAMU
f
i
-4-
S. B. Zisman, "Community Plans Its Schools," (College Station
Consolidated School), American School and University, 1941,
pp. 28 -36. Includes an extremely good map of College
Station and vicinity dated 1934, revised 1936. TAMU
Library #LB / 3205 / A 5, regular stacks.
There are obviously many other sources that could be used, but I do
not have the time to do your research. As a responsible member of the Brazos
County Historical Commission, I do not recommend approval of this application
in its present incomplete form, and cannot give my approval of it. It may
be easier for the applicants simply to erect whatever marker they wish without
seeking a state approved historical marker. The latter requires, as it should,
sound historical information with proper documentation.
Sincerely yours,
)11A- t
. Milton Nance
Irbir
etcyZR c C Tt m Yu o t D% AJ o S
mo o, — nlo-r Z . .'ocr ,vnity ''45. 4cZe.•4c,c' C4p27 ce-
ECG Ems T. (6":" 7 I WE S.r - in.REE
5 I L-r 4.5 ,' e '.4S Cci& L ,S
Pc)5 r 04 L< 14 c_L / S c .v j(i)W Ai A S /u y
Aopc--- Z - r y o - r445 - - 5' j /0 4 S LOA- .. 1. 7 ,8 c e te._
( . 5. 60L CG - r l 5 Q L L g2 i■ 80/21 5_te z . I
7 !•!K l % / M, e r Iii T /V'6 ?7 l7-4.4 .C.-2 L. o l
�lCo r &,(40 6,4srw74 r "(i 4, I F Y 6. (S
It$aD S ,<( l3t) N vky _ N« ST
LA-3C---A.6- &Icy c N lrus. t{- _ Ti7 774E No2T IT soucz
LE S 11' /G 4o LLE---Ivt o [-P r S EC1 -4L
cOL D S cE - 02 5 &/52 /-/O Lt c-K S , 7i SG�lw.4 g
.7,6a4i)volaLlY . 774 s O ip z• 0,J act.
(..4A)6. L f G ,d 1).A4.oku cf T E c c Is O .v (023 (L9 u o Cs N
p• 2 6�! -ESE "EO Pi E W5 A-e_L l A 774E' 1-1
0M It( U I\ 11 T ACr___Ok,t)/NC7 7O jr? N /t✓ C (14e gi
Pmt 1,)1« E S L J&-�� , J o j - r?-c � ntd 4 42u-t , -E I
DO P3 uvL N ? 7 To AA � i C(� -FI4 2u-c o 2? 1 -1 orc
KA Pe -4 o.) .
r 4Ie