[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 27 (Tuesday, February 26, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E188-E189]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CELEBRATING I.M. TERRELL HIGH SCHOOL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MARC A. VEASEY

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 26, 2013

  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise during this month of February, also 
known as Black History Month, to celebrate a piece of African American 
history in my own hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. I want to acknowledge 
a legacy that began over 130 years ago, when the Fort Worth School 
System opened its first public school for Black students, now known as 
I.M. Terrell High School.
  Officially, I.M. Terrell High School was established for the 
education of African American students in the City of Fort Worth, but 
the school was much more than that. In a time of formal segregation, 
the school became a safe haven, a place where the teachers knew all of 
their students and their parents. It was a community where people cared 
about and respected each other.
  In 1882, a great man named Isaiah Milligan Terrell moved to Fort 
Worth to serve as Principal and superintendent of Black schools. In 
1910, he was appointed principal of the North Side Colored High School 
and served in this position until 1915.

[[Page E189]]

  After his tenure at North Side, Mr. Terrell continued his role as an 
exceptional administrator. He went on to make significant contributions 
to Prairie View Normal College, now known as Prairie View A&M 
University. Mr. Terrell also helped to raise funds for the 
establishment of Houston Negro Hospital, later known as the Riverside 
General Hospital in Houston, Texas.
  In 1921, North Side High school was renamed a final time, in the 
namesake of its great principal, I.M. Terrell High School.
  I.M. Terrell High School was truly a second home for the students and 
faculty who met there from cities like Arlington, Bedford, Benbrook, 
Burleson, Roanoke and Weatherford. In all, the high school took in 
students from 16 cities where African Americans were not allowed to 
attend school.
  Although its students, teachers, and faculty came from diverse 
backgrounds and environments they entered the halls of I.M. Terrell 
with one common goal: to achieve excellence. I.M. Terrell High School 
has become a symbol of pride and a beacon of hope for Fort Worth. When 
African Americans were struggling for human dignity and civil rights, 
the teachers and administrators at I.M. Terrell used education as a way 
to lead our youth on a path to righteousness. They knew that education 
was the great equalizer and when applied correctly, it would always 
lead to success. What I.M. Terrell High School has done for the North 
Texas community will never be forgotten. The mark left on all of our 
lives is too great to measure.
  Mr. Speaker, it has been said that the most important subject we can 
study to preserve the progress of any culture, and any nation, is 
history. So today, during the month of February when we celebrate Black 
History Month in our country, I stand to honor a rich history that has 
instilled important values into the Fort Worth community, including 
education, knowledge, and perseverance. I.M. Terrell's legacy is 
profound: as a school that was founded less than 20 years after the 
civil war, in a community that knew the next great battlefield would be 
the classroom; a community that proudly fought for equal education, a 
right that for centuries had been withheld from African Americans; and 
an institution whose doors have been closed for almost 40 years, but 
whose legacy is still alive.
  Today, I proclaim that education is the path we must take to achieve 
social, economic and cultural progress necessary for success in the 
21st century and beyond. Let us use the lessons learned from this great 
institution as a guiding light for success, and follow the path 
pioneered by visionaries who began at I.M. Terrell High School.

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