In 2024, Dr. Nancy Aguirre and Dr. Frank G. Pérez worked with the National Park Service to collect documents and oral histories related to Blackwell School, a segregated ‘Mexican School’ in Marfa, Texas. Blackwell School, which operated from 1909-1965, focused on assimilating Mexican and Mexican children into American society. In 1954, school officials prohibited the use of Spanish, and corporal punishment became a way to enforce assimilation. Blackwell School is now a National Historic Site, bringing national attention to the rural community of Marfa and to the decades-long efforts of Blackwell alumni to tell their stories. Alumni narratives describe trauma stemming forced assimilation, but they are also stories of survival and the complexities of growing up in the U.S./Mexico borderlands.

Dr. Aguirre and Dr. Pérez were drawn to the study of segregated schools because of their own cultural backgrounds. Both are Mexican American, born and raised in Texas, first-generation scholars, and both are Spanish speakers who experienced language discrimination and pressures to assimilate into English-speaking American society. In short, Dr. Pérez and Dr. Aguirre did not attend segregated schools, but they understand some of the pressures that Blackwell students faced. This panel explores how personal experiences can shape historical research, and the generational impacts of school segregation on Texas communities.

Dr. Aguirre’s paper, entitled “Language Retention and Cultural Pride: The Struggle Against Segregated Mexican Schools in Texas, 1910s-1920s,” analyzes the efforts by Mexican immigrants in San Antonio to desegregate Texas public schools. While some Mexican American leaders during this period called for assimilation, a group of immigrants led by journalist Ignacio E. Lozano spoke out against discrimination of Mexican children while encouraging the retention of the Spanish language. They supported bilingualism during a time of intense racial tensions between Anglos and Mexicans in Texas, and their push for Spanish language retention mirrors contemporary efforts to save bilingual education, which is currently under threat in Texas.

While Dr. Aguirre’s paper focuses on San Antonio, Dr. Pérez’s work examines the challenges in documenting history in the West Texas town of Marfa. His paper, entitled “Fighting for Mexican American Inclusion: An Autoethnography of Service and Research in a Segregated School Memorial in the Southwest,” traces his experiences during his four years of researching Blackwell School. Dr. Pérez met and interviewed many of the surviving alumni, attended meetings of the Blackwell Alliance (the school’s alumni association), and was an integral part of the push to designate Blackwell School as a Historic Site. He also witnessed the backlash against these efforts, particularly from individuals who disputed Blackwell alumni’s narratives, or who were opposed to telling ‘negative’ stories about Marfa. Dr. Pérez’s paper explores his reactions to the attempted whitewashing of Blackwell’s history, and his role as a scholar in telling the stories of Blackwell alumni who, in a larger context, represent countless Mexican American students who have experienced discrimination.