Central High School | The First African American High School in Texas

Central Middle School stands as a living testament to the enduring legacy of integrated education. Founded in 1885 as the first high school for African Americans in the state, it played a pivotal role in advancing education for the local African American community. 

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Central Middle School is a living reminder of the efforts to provide a quality education for all Galvestonians. Central was initially founded in 1885 as a high school before racially integrated schools in Galveston. Central was the first high school for African Americans in Texas.

The aim was to further education for African American students in Galveston and the surrounding area. African Americans moved to Galveston in the late 19th century from all over Texas for better jobs, a stronger African American community, and to allow their kids to attend Central High School, one of the highest levels of education available for African Americans in Texas in the late 1800s. The school was initially located in a rented building at the corner of 16th and Avenue L.

In 1893, the school moved to a two-story brick building designed by renowned architect Nicholas Clayton. Located at the corner of 26th Street and Avenue L in 1904, the Galveston School Board authorized the construction of a library annex to the high school for the use of the local African American community.

The building where Central Middle School is housed today was built in 1954  as Central High School to give African American students an equal education to their white peers at Ball High School. After 14 years, when education in the city was officially desegregated. Central High School became a junior high school, opening its doors for the first time to a more racially diverse group of students, while Central students attended Ball High School. 

It's important to remember how significant the legacy carried on by Central Middle School and the educational institutions in the decades that followed are to Galveston and the state of Texas. 

Central Middle School carries the legacy of integrated schools and is the first African American high school in Texas.