A Texas school that was built to segregate Mexican American students becomes a national park

Associated Press

A west Texas school built in 1909 for Mexican and Mexican American students as part of “separate but equal” education segregation was designated Wednesday as a national park. U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland formally established the Blackwell School National Historic Site in Marfa, Texas, as the the seventh national park designated by President Joe Biden. The school is about 45 miles west of the U.S.-Mexico border and operated until 1965. The site joins recent additions to the national park system that include a Japanese internment camp in Colorado; the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument in Illinois and Mississippi, and Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park in Kansas.