Segregated by Design: Disability Education in Austin, Texas

Segregated by Design: Disability Education in Austin, Texas

Race discrimination in education--Texas--Austin; People with disabilities--Institutional care--Texas--Austin; Segregation in education--Texas--Austin; Deaf, Dumb and Blind Institute for Colored Youths; Texas School for the Blind; Separate but equal doctrine--Texas

Documentation of the unequal treatment of Black disabled students in Austin, Texas. Drawing on records from the Texas State Board of Control and the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the collection presents primary evidence that the state of Texas failed to meet even the minimum standard of separate but equal established by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) in its provision of care and education for Black deaf, blind, and visually impaired students. Items in this collection document conditions at the Deaf, Dumb and Blind Institute for Colored Youths including poorly maintained grounds, inadequately clothed students, and student-funded music programs, and compare them against the extensive state-funded resources documented at the white Texas School for the Blind. The collection further demonstrates how the 1928 Austin City Plan compounded these inequalities by displacing the Black institution and limiting transportation access for its students. Together these items illustrate how racial segregation produced material inequality for Black disabled students in Austin, and how government policy shaped who had access to resources and care.

Huth, Julie Harper

Texas State Board of Control

Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Baker, Weaver H

DeBerry, Tom

Martin, J.D

Texas State Board of Control Records (TX003299), Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Austin, Texas; Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired Records (TX000021), Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Austin, Texas.

Hidden Histories: UT Austin

1924-1945

Huth, Julie Harper

Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Austin, Texas.

These records are public records of the State of Texas held by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. As works of state government, they are not subject to copyright and are freely available for research and educational use.

Texas State Board of Control Records finding aid: https://txarchives.org/tslac/finding_aids/TX003299.xml; Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired Records finding aid: https://txarchives.org/tslac/finding_aids/TX000021.xml

Typed reports, financial statements, printed catalogue pages, photographs

English

collection

Separate and Unequal: Race and Disability Care in Austin, Texas. Hidden Histories: UT Austin. Spring 2026.

Austin, Texas; 1924-1945