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Educators at Marshall-Carver High School

In Georgetown, education was segregated in the past, with white children attending different schools than Black and Latino children. Racial inequities go way back in most states, and it was no different here.

From the first attempts in the Reconstruction years to equalize funding and introduce the idea of integrated schools, Texas education laws were always worded so that the public education funding for minority students would be to the effect of “we’ll do the best we can.” Which typically played out as, we’re not going to try that hard. Schools for Black and Latino children here suffered from a lack of academic resources and inadequate buildings.

Sources ranging from school board records (meticulously examined in Marsha Lane Farney’s dissertation on Georgetown’s public schools) to newspaper reportage to oral histories of Georgetown students show the contrast between white and segregated education to be stark.

Come visit the site of the all-Black Marshall-Carver High School. Here’s the marker at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Street and Scenic Drive. Previous to Marshall-Carver, Georgetown’s “Colored School” for all grades was located a few blocks south on what’s now MLK and 4th Street.

Graduates of the Marshall-Carver school, such as 1944 grads Mrs. Ethel Moore and Mrs. Birdie Shanklin, tell of having to make do with hand-me-down books, and shabby uniforms and broken equipment passed on by the white Georgetown High School. The school year was sometimes shorter, as many students worked picking cotton in area fields. And education in the Black schools was focused mainly on vocational education while the white kids got encouragement and resources for college and all possibilities.

Nonetheless, the Black community was proud of their schools. Teachers, parents, and students worked hard to strengthen all their programs. The community enjoyed being part of all the usual high school activities.

Here’s longtime community activist and Marshall-Carver graduate Paulette Taylor on the schools beloved teachers and the fruit of their dedication.

Find Paulette’s recollections and more oral histories about Georgetown’s school desegregation journey at this wonderful collection of local history from the Georgetown Public Library. The history of Douglas Benold, who was on the school board at the time, is useful for a perspective on the desegregation process and views and actions of segregation-minded school board members and community members.

Marshall-Carver principal S. C. Marshall

Principal S. C. Marshall and his spouse, who taught as well, devoted many years towards making great improvements in Carver. The school was named after him (although it changed to George Washington Carver after the Marshalls left after 38 years at the school). Students regularly won honors in literary and athletic interscholastic competitions in the UIL leagues for Black schools.

Throughout the years of segregation, many in the white community also supported black schools, coming to fundraisers and cleanups and events that showed off student achievement in a variety of areas.

But in the end, the hard-fought move to integrate and give all children equal opportunities was a struggle that took lawsuits and many years of effort to resolve. For a detailed look at the integration process, see Farney’s work. She typifies the actions from 1954, when racially segregated schools were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, to the Georgetown school integration 12 years later in 1966, as marked by “intense resistance of the school board to full integration.”

School board members and their lawyers facing off with desegregation proponents Harris, an unnamed Black plaintiff, and their lawyers Smith and Ashton

The situation was complicated, Farney notes. A small number of Black Georgetown families were in favor of adding new segregated school and refurbished the Black high school, which was in disrepair. A few Black families favored an optional desegregation for Blacks and whites.

A much larger group of Black families pressed for full integration instead of gradual, choice-based integration. These Black families were joined by Citizens for Better Schools Committee, a group of mostly white citizens including Southwestern University professors and spouses, business owners, and supportive lawyers and doctors. A majority of school board members argued for fixing up Black schools and adding a new segregated one. Over the many years from 1954 to 1965, the board held out for a very gradual integration process.

In addition to the lawsuits brought by Black Georgetown families, desegregation was propelled forward with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that withheld funds to school districts that were not fully integrated. Farney concludes that “financial considerations proved to be the impetus that finally closed the door to segregated schooling in Georgetown.”

Seniors get a hot meal and companionship at the Madella Hilliard Neighborhood Center.

You’ll find a commemoration to another wonderful educator of Georgetown’s young children at the Madella Hilliard Neighborhood Center at 803 W. 8th Street. The Center provides hot meals for seniors, along with aid to seniors and others with housing and other needs.

Madella was the obvious choice to name the Neighborhood Center—she was a mainstay at the Mary Bailey preschool. And she took on many other projects over the years to help seniors and others, such as searching through rural Wilco for seniors in need of Social Security and other resources.

Madella Hilliard; photo courtesy of the *Williamson County Sun*

These days, the Madella Hilliard Neighborhood Center, along with the county Meals on Wheels program, serves 60,000 meals to county seniors!

Latino Student Journeys

Georgetown’s Hispanic children weren’t allowed in the white schools at the time these neighborhoods were growing. The children came to the “Mexican School” or “Escuela Mexicana,” a one-room school at the corner of Bridge and 10th Street. (“Mexican schools” that segregated Hispanic children were widespread throughout Texas.)

Methodist minister David Carter had established a Mexican Mission Church in 1922, Georgetown being the latest assignment from the Methodist Church that had taken him to Mexico, Cuba, and now back to Texas. He began a “Mexican Mission” located on 9th Street and what used to be called Laura Street (now near Scenic Drive). That’s likely where these Mexican School students are gathered in the photo below.

Local white Methodists helped support his projects, which including a health clinic, employment referral, and English classes.

The city purchased a lot here for a Mexican School, and in 1923, Othelia Giron, a graduate of a teaching school in Saltillo, Mexico, came to be principal and teacher. You can see her to the left of Carter in the photo below.

Mexican School students gathered at the Mexican Mission Church

Dedicated teacher and principal Othelia Giron

Othelia was tireless in her efforts to improve life for the entire Hispanic community. In addition to teaching all the Latino students over the years, she held twice-weekly gatherings for parents to help them support their children’s education and keep the family healthy. She used games and put on plays to buttress her points, and she reinforced learning English for the whole family. Othelia got a PTA started at the Mexican School.

Othelia’s goal was to get children ready to possibly enter the white Georgetown Grammar School. It was challenging: Most students had to do farm work instead of coming to school on many days. Spanish was usually their first language. Some lived too far from the school to attend, and there weren’t buses for them. Josefa Rodriguez recalls in the excellent portrait of Latino life in Georgetown, Recuerdos Mexicanos, that since she lived too far from the school to walk, “Papa taught us to read, write, and add.” Other children didn’t get educated at all.

But despite the many educational challenges, Georgetown Latinos thrived. Read more in the Recuerdos Mexicanos about schools, churches, and life in Hispanic Georgetown. And learn more about Latino Georgetown in a forthcoming tour.

Annie Purl, a dedicated educator and principal of the white Grammar School, facilitated the transition of Hispanic students to the white school. (Learn more about Annie in the Awesome Educators tour.) Annie was the Mexican school’s supervising principal, and she introduced and taught Spanish classes at the white Grammar School. She included Othelia and other Mexican School teachers in many advanced teacher training projects for the white teachers.

In 1932, the school board expanded the 20 X 32 foot Mexican School building, and later added another small building on the same lot. The children continued to move on to the Grammar school after four years at the Mexican School. In 1947, the Mexican school closed, and all Hispanic children went to white schools.

Not far from the Mexican school is another school that started out as a site segregated for Black students at 17th Street and Scenic Drive. What became Carver Elementary School, named after the Tuskegee Institute scientist and educator George Washington Carver, opened in 1964. It was initially called Westside School, and it was intended for kindergarten through 12th grade Black students.

But the following year, the 1965 Civil Rights Act outlawing segregation compelled the Georgetown School Board to begin the desegregation process, and the school became an integrated school, Carver Elementary. For the years between the school opening and when it closed in 2015, integrated students at Carver went to school without incident. Here’s a Carver day that included dancing. The Carver name continues with the current school located at 4901 Scenic Lake Drive.

Photo courtesy of the *Williamson County Sun*

The original Carver Elementary was built on what was once Carver Park, where the Black community gathered to picnic, play sports, and celebrate Juneteenth, the celebration of the emancipation of enslaved people in Texas in 1865. Juneteenth memories include baseball and basketball games for kids and adults; free BBQ and food booths; games such as cards, dominoes, cake walk, and apple dunking; and a dance at the end of the celebration. Georgetown’s Juneteenth celebration continued most years, including in 2021, when Juneteenth was declared an annual state holiday for June 19.

The fate of the original Carver building is uncertain. The Georgetown School Board is considering a sale, but the Georgetown Cultural Citizen Memorial Association (GCCMA), an organization that educates, preserves, and celebrates the African American history and culture of Georgetown, proposed another use.

GCCMA president Paulette Taylor hopes for a center that could include small business development, adult literacy classes, health screenings, multi-cultural arts activities and performances, bilingual and translation services, financial literacy education, meeting space for organizations and churches.

One more thing to imagine at the former Carver Elementary site: Mary Bailey’s awesome preschool, once located inside the school.

Mary Bailey gets the recognition she richly deserves in this mural at West and 9th Street!

Mary Smith Bailey cared deeply for children. After getting a teaching degree and masters’ degree in child development from Huston-Tillotson, she taught public school for 35 years at Wilco’s segregated schools, including ones in Jonah, Round Rock, and Georgetown. Upon “retiring” in 1953, she founded The Westside Kindergarten, the first preschool in Georgetown open to non-white children. The Women’s Circle from the First Methodist Church assisted Mary in opening the kindergarten.

Georgetown five-year-olds don cap and gown to celebrate their graduation from Mary Bailey Head Start Center in 1975; photo courtesy of the *Williamson County Sun*

Mary charged families 50 cents a month for high-quality learning. Her dedicated educating spirit lives on in the Mary Bailey Head Start Center on North College Street, where for decades children continue to get a stronger start on life.

Nearby Carver is yet another community resource named after a Georgetown educator. The Willie Hall Center, located at 906 W. 17th St., has provided tutoring and other support for students and summer camps and youth enrichment, and a meeting place for the GCCMA.

Mrs. Willie Hall reading with children at Mary Bailey Center; photo courtesy of the *Williamson County Sun*

Willie Hall was a Marshall-Carver grad who attended Huston-Tillotson University. She taught for years at Mary Bailey’s Westside Kindergarten, and mentored young people in groups such as the Girl Scouts and the Heroines of Jericho organization for female Masons.

This tour takes you mostly to places where children of color were educated during the long years of segregated schools. You’ll also meet some amazing educators who enriched the entire community on this west side walk. The tour is about TK miles.

☛ Start at the Marshall-Carver High School historical marker near the intersection of Scenic Drive and Martin Luther King Street. Imagine school life going on, with all its book-learning and fun—in this community anchor.

Hanging out by school with all the books

☛ Head down MLK toward 3rd Street and the Macedonia Baptist Church. Here’s where Carver students would come to the church for lunch because for a long while, Carver didn’t have a cafeteria. In 1939, the women of the church cooked and served lunch in the church. In the evening, adults would gather for adult learning classes.

☛ Take a right off MLK on 4th Street to go to West Street, and then turn left. Mary Bailey’s Westside Kindergarten for children of color who couldn’t go to a white daycare or kindergarten was on (location to come) West Street.

Georgetowners helped Mary’s Kindergarten: Women from the white First United Methodist Church gathered funding for materials and more teachers. Students at Southwestern University helped refurbish the kindergarten. After moving location from Mary’s house to the West Street location, the Kindergarten moved to more space in the Marshall-Carver lunchroom. You’ll now find Mary’s legacy living on in the Mary Bailey Head Start on north College Street.

Mary loved to follow her graduates as they grew up and achieved in many different areas. As she said in Histories of Pride, the Georgetown Black history book, she credits the influence of the children who’d attended her school who in turn encouraged others to work hard at school for the continued success of children in the community.

Enjoying meals at Madella Hilliard Center

☛ Turn right off West on 8th Street and continue to the Madella Hilliard Neighborhood Center at 803 W. 8th Street. Picture Madella, who’d spent years educating children at the Mary Bailey Kindergarten, as she continued strengthening the senior community through helping seniors throughout the county.

☛ Go back on 8th Street, continuing to West Street and turning right there. You’ll see the Shotgun House Museum—be sure to visit it when it’s open for special occasions. Keep walking down West to see the beautiful mural of educator Mary Bailey, and admire the dazzling abstract art incorporating several African American community leaders. Learn more here.

☛ Continue to 9th Street, and turn right on 9th, and continue until you get to Scenic Drive. This is the approximate location of the Mexican Mission, where Methodist minister David Carter offered employment referrals, English classes, and a health clinic.

☛ Continue on Scenic and go right when you get to 10th, and follow it to where it curves. Here’s the location of the Mexican School that was shepherded for many years by principal and teacher Othelia Giron.

Over her six years of teaching, Othelia taught hundreds of children and prepared them to move to the white grammar school by 4th grade. Her biggest challenge was attendance: Many children stayed out of school to work the harvest of cotton and other crops.

☛ Look over to the river where you’ll find the San Gabriel River Trail. Fun fact to ponder as you meander down the river path: The San Gabriel River’s original name is Rio de San Xavier, so named by Spanish explorer and priest Fray Isidro Felix Espinosa in 1716. Continue south on the river path, crossing over University Avenue and walking until you reach 17th Street.

You’ll see the former Carver Elementary School in front of you. Before the school was built, this space was a park that drew neighbors for picnics and baseball and relaxing, and it was the site of many years of Juneteenth celebrations.

Now the Juneteenth celebration is held in other places, including the space near the Shotgun House Museum and City Hall. Join in next year’s Juneteenth—check with the Georgetown Cultural Citizen Memorial Association for Juneteenth and other projects (such as the annual backpack giveaway) for you to join in and get to know new friends.

Latino Student Journeys

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