Blackwell Blueprint

In partnership with The Blackwell School Alliance and Visit Marfa

Blackwell School

For 56 years, the Blackwell School in Marfa, Texas, was the place where Mexican and Mexican American children went every day. The original 1909 school building stands today as a tangible reminder of when “separate but equal” dominated education and social systems in the U.S.

During its history, the small three-room adobe school, which accommodated 125 children on many days, was expanded to provide more space. A small playground was added, and new buildings were built for the middle school grades.

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The Complicated History at One of America’s Segregated Schools

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The newer buildings were demolished or moved long ago. But the stories of segregation by prejudice, rather than law, and the stories of Blackwell’s students, families, and teachers are symbolic of how Latino residents struggled to maintain their culture and way of life.

Children as young as first grade were instructed to lose their language and speak only English. School children would write Spanish words on slips of paper and put them in a box that was buried on the school grounds in a mock funeral ceremony.

Marfa was but one of more than 120 school districts in Texas operating segregated schools for students of Mexican descent. When the Blackwell School National Historic Site Act was signed into law in late 2022, it ensured that the history of segregation and the stories of these children will be protected and remembered forever.

Blackwell Blueprint

Blackwell School National Historic Site is a must-see and experience for visitors to Marfa and West Texas. The stories contained in this small school built at the beginning of the twentieth century are just waiting to be told. But the buildings and grounds need a lot of work.

The site is Marfa’s only national park and since Blackwell was designated there have been many questions about what comes next and what the site might mean for the city and the region.

To help answer those questions, the National Parks Conservation Association, Blackwell School Alliance, and Visit Marfa hosted a three-day workshop at Blackwell School in October 2024. The purpose was to engage people in discussions with volunteer architects, planners, and historians to enhance the necessary visitor improvements while using this new national park to advance important community development goals.

About 40 people from Marfa and throughout Texas participated in the workshop in person at Blackwell School. In addition, the project team conducted more than two dozen interviews to capture all the ideas people were willing to offer.

Visitors to the national historic site also happened by during the workshop – including several Blackwell alumni – and offered their ideas, experiences, and thoughts about how these stories should be presented, what their days were like at Blackwell, and even confirming where the original buildings and outhouses were located.

The results of these conversations are contained in Blackwell Blueprint. The project team refined the input and feedback from the workshop and created the content of this “ideas book” of recommendations.

Blackwell School is already welcoming visitors from around the globe because of its new national park status. Advocates are ready to move forward on the enhancements and ideas that will position Blackwell for success.

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Blackwell Blueprint
Collaborative Ideas Workshop for Blackwell School National Historic Site

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