The Brackenridge Colored School

The evolving narrative within the pages of the book uncovers the deeply

rutted paths to literacy ownership carved by turn-of-the-twentieth century

African American citizens' groups in San Antonio, Texas. The story

becomes more than a turn-of-the-twentieth century Colored school's history;

it becomes a people's story inculcating the essence of their cultural

history in San Antonio's cultural landscape. Through self-determinist

strategies powered by agency and cultural capital, these literacy warriors

step forward to stake their claim for literacy ownership. The impetus for

the establishment of the George W. Brackenridge Colored School is initiated

by a small group of Colored people who come to petition for more

schools for their children. Within the story of the citizens' groups and the

Brackenridge Colored School, another person emerges as a symbol of the

school's beginnings. The school's namesake, George W. Brackenridge,

moves in and out of the events centered on the Board's decisions regarding

learning facilities for the Colored community.

For all of his philanthropic endeavors during the nineteenth and twentieth

centuries, George W. Brackenridge remains as a memorialized symbol

still standing tall, not only in the African American communities, but

in other communities and institutions through out San Antonio and the

state of Texas. However, only a few remember, or are even aware of the

Colored citizens' initiatives put forth for the building of the school, bearing

the name of its financial and morally bent benefactor, a much needed

ally in the nearby Colored community surrounding the school at the turn

of the twentieth century.

And now, the rest of the story.