texas

The Color of Texas Classrooms & The First Black High School in Fort Worth

Currently, the I.M. Terrell High School building is undergoing a $55 million renovation

Within a growing city, change is inevitable. Redevelopment has been a key focus for the city of Fort Worth.

Surrounded by a changing landscape, the golden bricks of I.M. Terrell remain intact and deeply rooted. Named after one of the school’s first principals, Isaiah Milligan Terrell, I.M. Terrell High School was the first and only high school for black students for decades.

“We are all connected,” said Marilyn Ferrell, who was a 1973 graduate of I.M. Terrell. “We call ourselves the ‘last class,’ because we were the last class that graduated before the school was closed. It doesn’t matter what year you graduated from, if you walked the halls of Terrell, you were family."

The school opened in 1882, and for generations black students from 17 different cities and small towns throughout Tarrant County were forced to travel to Fort Worth to attend high school.

“Students came from all over,” said James Mallard, who was a 1954 graduate of I.M. Terrell. “They had to get bused here. There weren’t just kids here from Fort Worth, but Grapevine, Weatherford, Euless, Arlington and Mansfield. Some of them would have to catch the city bus and then walk to school,” said Mallard.

Jim Crow laws in the south (which continued until 1965) enforced racial segregation.

“My family goes back 150 years in Tarrant County,” said Bob Ray Sanders, a 1965 graduate of I.M. Terrell. “People in my family were land owners, they paid taxes, yet there were still things that were closed to us. We still couldn’t go to the downtown movie theaters, up until 1963 we could only go to the zoo one day out of the year. We could swim in the pool one day out of the year and then they would drain the pool for the white kids. We had to ride on the back of the bus. Yes, we had to drink from water fountains marked ‘colored.’ the courthouse had segregated facilities."

"But all that said, I.M. Terrell was our refuge," said Sanders. "Our teachers knew they were preparing us for the change that was coming, and we were going to be prepared for the part of that change.”

Separate. Not Equal, but Elevated

I.M. Terrell is often described as a “beacon on a hill.” Graduates of the high school credit their success to their teachers, who were a shining light during the onslaught oppression of the segregation.

"They instilled in us dignity, and they had high expectations for us," said Sanders. "They invested everything they had in us, because if we didn’t succeed, it was like they didn’t succeed.”

Many of the teachers received their undergraduate degree from black universities in Texas, but they had to go outside of the deep south to receive master and doctorate degrees.

“Because many institutions were closed to African-Americans, they taught here," said Sanders. "So we had men and women, who were masters in their field, teaching us things like trigonometry, journalism, elementary analysis, and Shakespeare."

After the Supreme Court Ruling of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which deemed segregated schools unlawful, the state of Texas was slow to initiate change.

“Fort Worth did not want to integrate," said Sanders. "The city’s answer to Brown v. Board of Education was to add more high schools. They thought that would give us choice.” 

Integration came with pushback until President Lyndon B. Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Education and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 “prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in programs or activities which receive federal financial assistance.”

Facing the threat of losing public school funding, the Fort Worth ISD began a “stair step” program for integration. Black students were bused to white schools and three black schools were closed down. One of the schools was I.M. Terrell.

“We never wanted to see this school closed. This school meant so much to our community,” said Ferrell.

The school finally re-opened in 1998, but as an elementary school. After receiving the historic marker, the Fort Worth ISD has made plans to renovate Terrell.

Currently, the building is undergoing a $55 million renovation. When construction is complete, I.M. Terrell will reopen as a STEM and Performing Arts Academy.

Contact Us