NPCA Celebrates Staff Expert's New Book on Blackwell School National Historic Site

SAN ANTONIO – This week, the University of Texas (UT) San Antonio hosted a book launch event, announcing the publication of The Blackwell School, coauthored by National Parks Conservation Association Texas Program Manager Cristobal Lopez and Dr. Kirsten Gardner, Professor of History at UT San Antonio.

Part of Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series, this groundbreaking new book tells the history of Blackwell School National Historic Site through a collection of photographs and captions and highlights the experiences of the Mexican American students who attended a segregated school. A team of students at UT San Antonio contributed initial research for the book. Daniel Hernandez, a descendant of Blackwell alumni and president of the Blackwell School Alliance, provided the foreword for the book.

On Wednesday, October 15, UT San Antonio hosted a panel discussion between Dr. Kirsten Gardner, Cristobal Lopez and student contributors Sophia Mendez and Breahna Luera-Taylor. The book launch event was attended by fellow student contributors and their classmates at UT San Antonio, along with history department faculty and staff, and community members.

Blackwell School National Historic Site was established in 2024 as the 430th unit of the National Park System and is only the second national park site dedicated to telling contemporary Latino history in the United States of America. In communities across the Southwest, school districts once enforced “de facto segregation,” forcing Mexican American children to attend separate schools from their white peers. Mexican American children were often given outdated textbooks and shoddy equipment and in many cases were punished for speaking in their native language.

The site preserves the last remaining buildings of a segregated Mexican American school campus open from 1909 until 1965. Following years of fervent advocacy by the nonprofit Blackwell School Alliance, and the National Parks Conservation Association, the Blackwell School National Historic Site Act passed with rare bipartisan backing. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law into law in 2022, and former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland formally established the site during a ribbon cutting ceremony in fall 2024.

This new book, The Blackwell School, reflects NPCA’s mission to continue to support sites beyond designation and ensure their stories are accessible to audiences across the country.

The Blackwell School is available for purchase on Arcadia Publishing’s website. All proceeds from the book will go to the Blackwell School Alliance to help with the further preservation of Blackwell School National Historic Site.

In a statement, historian, author and National Parks Conservation Association Texas Program Manager Cristobal Lopez said:

“This book, much like the campaign to establish Blackwell School National Historic Site, was a labor of love.

“The Blackwell School is another great opportunity to share the stories of the students who attended this segregated school. It is my sincere hope that our book helps future generations understand communities’ immeasurable efforts to preserve the site. Blackwell alumni and their community partners have poured blood, sweat, and tears into preserving this complicated chapter of our American story, and working with them will always be one of the greatest honors of my career. Our book will help ensure that their history is not forgotten.

“As a proud alumnus of UT San Antonio, it is such an honor to be able to return to my old stomping grounds in the history department and work with my former professor, Dr. Kirsten Garder, to chronicle the history of Blackwell. It feels so meaningful to be able to work with the next generation of historians to UT San Antonio to make these stories accessible to a broader audience.”

###

About the National Parks Conservation Association: Since 1919, the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) has been the leading voice in safeguarding our national parks. NPCA and its nearly 1.9 million members and supporters work together to protect and preserve our nation’s most iconic and inspirational places for future generations. For more information, visit www.npca.org.