by Alton Birdwell

"We are prone to think of warriors and statesmen as the men who made Texas, but the teachers of other days are entitled to a meet of praise for they sat in at the birth of ambitions and tenderly nursed them to fine fruition....I do not speak tonight of the clash of arms and the smoke of battle, but rather of the clash of ideas and the growth and development of ideals." - Alton Birdwell during Texas Centennial Speech, 1936

Editorial Introduction

In countless articles and speeches in the period from 1925 to 1938, many around the time of the Texas Centennial in 1936, SFA's First President Alton Birdwell talks about the development of education in East Texas. Dr. Birdwell himself played a major role in this development. While Dr. Birdwell denied in his speeches that it was his aim to approach a comprehensive history, he quiet effectively does sketch one in a most effective way. Birdwell was trying "to dissipate the idea" that East Texas was educationally backward or "in the dark ages," as he stated it. In writing of the history of SFA, Birdwell concluded:

The present is the flowering of the plantings of the past....Our studies of the past, therefore, with its great leaders, its conflicting ideals, its organizing ideas, have resulted in pride of achievement, and let us hope, in new and clearer visions and purposes.

Birdwell's purpose in tracing the past was, quite obviously, the promotion of better efforts in the future. After one enthusiastic messages he ended:

The past is rather secure; the present is promising; the future is in the hands of the citizenship, and will develop in direct proportion to the educational opportunites offered the youth of this section. (1936)

It is in this same sense that the present series will review the past, in the hope that it will result in new and clearer visions and purposes.

(Editorial Note - JLJ)

Table of Contents

Colonial and Republican Times • Nacogdoches University Chartered • Post Civil War • Public School Movement

Colonial and Republican Times

"Mexico had failed to establish a system of education....The first mission founded in Texas, San Francisco des las Tejas ...had for its avowed object the training of the Tejas Indians in the ways of orderly life and in the Christian religion. It was a "nobel gesture" which accomplished nothing.... (Mission schools may have existed); however, the records are silent so far as schools are concerned in this section of the state....The (Mexican) Constitution... Article 215, provided: 'In all towns of the state a suitable number of primary schools shall be established....

"On paper this was a good program, but from a state standpoint nothing was accomplished. In an official order in 1827 the burden of education was placed on local communities. In keeping with this policy, the Board of Piety was organized in Nacogdoches in 1831. Immediately this body turned its attention to the building of a suitable church house and a suitable school house. In the subscription list for these improvements, we meet several men who became well known characters in Texas history: Peter Ellis Bean, Frost Thorn, Adolphus Sterne, and a number of others. Subscriptions were made in money, lumber, nails, cattle, and labor. Undoubtedly there was considerable interest in both religion and education. It was certain that a school was started and was conducted for several years. The attendance was disappointing, and the whole matter was lost sight of in the dramatic years of 1835-36.

"Prior to this, however, we have the record of a school contract between the citizens and one J. T. Garner for a school to be taught in Nacogdoches on a tuition basis. We have no record of the school in operation, but since Garner was in Nacogdoches a year or two later, the inference is clear that the contract was fulfilled. What was happening in Nacogdoches was perhaps true in other settled communities of East Texas.

"The important thing is that there was a deep interest in education. The Honorable Eugene H. Blount, in his San Jacinto address delivered on the battlefield April 21, 1926, speaking of the men who made Texas, said:

They came from cultured families of the South and East and North, and brought that culture with them....They brought libraries with them, some of which are still intact. The Iliad and the Odyssey in the original Greek and the Aenid in Latin came from the old South along with the English classics and the gems of the French Renaissance. They brought pianos; the classical music of Haydn and Handel were heard in houses built of logs....

"In the first constitution of the [Texas] Republic, we find these words: 'It shall be the duty of Congress, as soon as circumstances will permit, to provide by law a general system of education.' ...However, little was done in the way of organization....There was no school system and little sentiment for one, for at this time it was assumed that public education should apply to indigents only. The result of this was that private schools sprang up in every settled community. On some of the plantations in East Texas school houses were built, and skillful and cultured men and women conducted private schools for the children of the plantation owners and for neighboring children that might come.

Nacogdoches University Chartered

"From 1839 to 1845 seven institution of higher learning were chartered by the Congress of the Republic with land donations, usually four sections of land. In East Texas, San Augustine, Marshall University, and the University of Nacogdoches were chartered....were established and did fine work. It might be said in passing that at this time, and for some years after, San Augustine was undoubtedly the cultural center of Texas. Indeed, this little city prided itself on being the Athens of Texas. She boasted two colleges, San Augustine University and Wesleyan College. Marshall at one time had four or five colleges under charter or in prospect. Under Methodist influence, Henderson had a college, and under care of the Cumberland Presbyterians, a school of note was established at Larissa, in Cherokee County. Early in the 1850's, Austin College was established by the Presbyterians at Huntsville.

"...Prior to the Civil War East Texas was quite well served by so-called colleges. It must be remembered that these colleges conducted both primary and collegiate departments. Some of them admitted women, but they did not seem to be co-educational in the sense that we use that term now. The Federal census of 1850 reported 97 academies in Texas with 137 teachers and 3,389 students. In 1860 the report shows the same number of academies with 236 teachers and 5,916 students....It is clear, however, that there was considerable effort before the Civil War to provide a rather good type of training.

Post-Civil War Developments

"Of course, the Civil War disturbed this whole program. East Texas particularly gave its all to the Lost Cause. The people generally had come from the Old South, and there were a considerable number of slaves in this section of the state. For the most part, the citizens were ardent secessionists, and they proved the faith that was in them by sending their manhood into the armies and by giving liberally of their means for the cause.

"...On paper, the Reconstruction Government established a thorough-going system of public schools....The census of 1870 reports 535 academies with 649 teachers and 22,276 students. Many of these were one-teacher schools....I went to one of these schools, at Starrville, where my father, George P. Birdwell, was teaching. These teachers had never heard of progressive education, the child centered school, integrated programs, intelligence quotient, and a host of their phrases that make up the vocabulary of the modern teacher; but they instructed on both obedience and studious habits....We are fond of saying today that ability to adjust to changing conditions is the ear-mark of an educated person. The old school master thought that the ability to think clearly and accurately produced this result. The men and women educated fifty or seventy-five years ago made the modern age, and have adjusted more or less constructively to its lightening-like changes. Perhaps we would do well to remember the objective and the methods of the old-time school masters. We are prone to think of warriors and statesmen as the men who made Texas, but the teachers of other days are entitled to a meet of praise for they sat in at the birth of ambitions and tenderly nursed them to fine fruition.

"The Constitution of 1876 provided for a handsome permanent school fund....however, the school system was entirely decentralized. The community system of organization prevailed everywhere and, therefore, there could be no consistency of administration.

Public School Education in Texas

"1884 is, I think, the beginning date of the modern period in public school education in Texas. In that year constitutional amendments were adopted, giving authority for the levying and collecting of local taxes, and the Legislature of that year undertook to abolish the community system. Unfortunately, however, some fifty-six counties in the state were exempted from the provisions of the law. These counties were for the most part in East Texas, and therefore, the community system was continued in this section of the state. It is difficult for younger people to understand how this system operated. The school community had no fixed geographical boundaries. It was reorganized each year. The writer of this article was elected principal of the Noon-Day School in Smith County by a mass meeting. Of course, under these circumstances there could be no local taxes either for maintenance or for building purposes. In the meantime, under the statues cities and towns had been allowed to take charge of their school system, and under their charter could levy local taxes for maintenance and could issue bonds for building school houses. Therefore, fairly good schools were maintained in the cities and towns, but the schools in the open country remained poor. The terms were short, the buildings were miserable, and there was no great solidarity of public opinion behind the schools....The community system prevailed in East Texas until the 1890's, and in fact in most of the counties of East Texas until the turn of the century. It was finally abolished in 1908 and 1909 by the Legislature."