117th Congress S. Bill 2490

Make the Blackwell School Part of the National Park System to Preserve American History!

Nathan Rosenblum

The Blackwell School, opened in 1909, was a segregated school in Marfa, Texas, for children of Mexican descent until it was integrated in 1965. Before 1965, Mexican American students in Marfa were barred from attending the nearby white-only school and had to attend Blackwell, where they faced discrimination and emotional abuse. The Blackwell School National Historic Site Act establishes the Blackwell School National Historic Site in Texas as a unit of the National Park System to preserve, protect, and interpret for the benefit of present and future generations the Blackwell School, its role as both an academic and cultural cornerstone in the community in Marfa, Texas, and its function within a segregated system of education in Texas and the United States from 1885-1965. I support H.R.4706!!