Douglass School Class Photo

Pictured here is the graduating class of 1927. Following the Civil War, Douglass school served as a Freedman’s Bureau school from late 1860 to 1871, initially known as Rincon School. It was named Rincon because of location on Rincon St, now known as St. Mary’s Street. The two-story stone structure for students of all ages was the first free public school for Blacks in San Antonio. In 1871, it became part of San Antonio Independent School District. The school was renamed Riverside School in 1990 and Frederick Douglass School in 1940. In 1914, the school was relocated to 318 Martin Luther King Drive, where it stands today. The school was important to educational change for African Americans in the south.