'At last:' Blackwell School's national park recognition mends racial wounds in Marfa

MARFA, Texas -- Jessi Silva remembers exactly where she sat when she saw her heritage buried. On a humble schoolhouse's dusty block on the south side of tiny 1950s Marfa, Silva watched her teachers lower a cigar box into the ground -- a casket for dozens of papers she and her classmates were instructed to label "Spanish." At just six years old, she understood the message.

"They said we can no longer speak Spanish. And I said I felt to myself, 'What did I do wrong? Why is this taken from us?'"

That day buried painful roots in Silva's childhood that lasted for 70 years. She is one of the living alumni of Marfa's Blackwell School trying to reclaim the school's legacy. From 1909 until after the Civil Rights Act in 1965, Blackwell served as a segregated school for Mexican and Mexican-American children. Students were punished for speaking Spanish and taught not to ask why the white children went to a school on the other side of the railroad tracks.

"Blackwell didn't have very much," Silva said. "But it had its pride. All the kids had pride."

That pride is stronger than ever this week. Blackwell School is now the United States' newest national park, earning recognition from the Biden Administration for its unique role in the history of the Civil Rights Movement.

The designation "ensures that the rich history and cultural heritage of this significant place is preserved for future generations,” Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said. “This site is a powerful reminder of our nation’s diverse and often complex journey toward equality and justice. By honoring the legacy of Blackwell School, we recognize the resilience and contributions of the Latino community in our shared history.”

The park joins others the Biden administration has recognized for their relation to civil rights, including the Amache National Historic Site in Colorado, the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument in Illinois and Mississippi, and the Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park in Kansas.

"Mexican-American history is US history," the National Park Service's Victoria Villarreal said. "The Blackwell School represents the Mexican-American experience for not only those who are of Hispanic descent but anyone who has felt segregated or oppressed... They could be from states away, from a different country, but there's a story here that represents them, and that they can find themselves in these walls, in these photos, in the students."

Preceding the designation, the Blackwell School Alliance operated the site as a museum. The exhibits showcase not just the painful moments, but the triumphs of Blackwell's dominant athletics and accomplished academics. The story of Blackwell is one of both pride and prejudice, a success story in spite of segregation.

For Silva and her classmates from long ago, that story just got a happy ending.

"When President Biden said, 'You're worthy...' I think my words were, 'Today will be my first tomorrow.' My pain is behind me," Silva said. "I don't feel that pain anymore. Now I feel a lot of pride for the work that was done."