DAVID W EBB Interim Editor
It’s been a long time coming, but the overdue praise for Cuero’s two historical African American schools and a legendary educator spontaneously came during the same week of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
MLK Jr. Day fell on Monday, Jan. 19, there was a Texas Historical Marker Dedication Ceremony for Principal Eugene A. Daule on the site of the first school named for him on T. L. Overture Street Tuesday, Jan. 20 and a groundbreaking ceremony for the Daule School renovation sponsored by the Tri-City Empowerment Council on Daule Street Friday, Jan. 23.
“It was all a coinci- dence,” said Doyle Cruz, who attended both ceremonies and whose father-in-law, Otward Brown Jr., graduated from Daule High School, formerly known as Cuero Colored High School, in1949, which was the last graduating class before the building was torn down. “I think it is very nice that all of this came together at the same time, but none of it was planned to happen that way.”
The Daule School on Daule Street was built in 1948 to replace the old high school, which was founded in 1892 renamed for Daule in 1938. Professor Daule came to Cuero from Louisiana in the 1890s to teach in the Cuero Colored School on Lincoln Street, the street now known as South Indianola. He was principal of Cuero Colored High School when it was built in 1904 at the West Newman site. He retired in 1931 The Daule School closed in 1965 during segregation. A historical marker for the Daule School notes “Daule High School and Cuero Colored High School remind us of the struggles of the black community and their resolution in the face of adversity.”
Cruz said that about 50 people attended the ceremonies, including many officials from the City of Cuero, De-Witt County and historical and cultural organizations.
“It was a great turnout and a great event,” Cruz said. “Everyone enjoyed the day.”
One of the guests probably enjoyed it even more than everyone else — his 94year-old father-inlaw, Cruz said.
“He enjoyed it like a breath of fresh air,” said Cruz, who notes his father-in-law and mother-in-law who are both 94, live next to site of the new historical marker on land that used to be the football practice field of the old high school.
Cruz said the push to get the historical marker began in 1970 when his mother-inlaw, Precelia Giles Brown, started campaigning for it. That went nowhere until about three years ago when Robert Oliver, a deceased Cuero philanthropist and founder of the Chisholm Trail Museum, got involved in it along with another Cuero community organizer, Marge Kacir.
“It’s just all now coming to reality,” Cruz said. “Everything just fell into place, and it happened.”
Cruz said he is deeply appreciative of the historical remembrances taking place and hopeful that more people will take the time to reflect on the schools and the educators that guided students in those days.
“I’m so grateful that it is bringing that type of education to the community,” Cruz said.
