Brazos County was settled in the 1820’s by members of Stephen F. Austin’s colony seeking plantation sites on the Brazos River.1 The 1850 census reported 148 Black slaves as residents of the county.1 By the beginning of the Civil War (1860) 1063 slaves resided in Brazos County.1 Reconstruction following the Civil War brought changes to the county. Black children in Brazos County were allowed to attend school for the first time. [1] <>

In December, 1865 W.W. Davis opened a Freedmen’s school in Bryan, followed the next year by Freedmen’s schools in Millican and Boonville.9 The Millican family had been the original family settling in Brazos County and became one of the larger land owners of the county. [2] <> In February, 1879, Nathan and Elmira Adams donated land for an African American school.3 By October, 1880 there were 20 children enrolled in the Bryan Public School for “colored students”.3 The leadership of the City of Bryan, as required by the Texas State Constitution of 1876 requiring separate but equal and impartial instruction for Black children, purchased land for an African American school in March, 1885;3 thus establishing the Bryan Public School for Coloreds.8 In 1897 the Freedmen’s school of Boonville burned. [3] <> The original two-story frame Bryan Colored School was furnished with board and keg benches. It later burned in April, 1913, but was rebuilt as a brick structure in January, 1914. [4] <> By 1930, this building became Washington Elementary School when the Junior-Senior High School was built across town. Scouting activities (Boy Scouts) for African Americans were organized in February, 1938. [5] <> Segregated education continued in Brazos County until the early 1960s. In the summer of 1963 public schools in Brazos County began the process of integration and the Board approved racial integration of Texas A & M College.8 Washington Elementary was destroyed by fire in September, 1971 and was not rebuilt. At that time the Black students were integrated into the Bryan Public School system. Today Washington Park occupies most of the original site of Bryan Public Schools for Coloreds. A historical marker is located on East 20th Street commemorating Black education in Brazos County. This site will be dedicated this summer as a museum.
The African American population of Brazos County remained at 9000 for most of the early twentieth century, until growth was reported in the 1970s. By 1990 the African American population of Brazos County had reached 13,672 with 4635 being under the age of 18.11 The census reports of 2000 noted a population of 152,415 county residents, 15.3% being of school age and with 17.72% reported as African American.1 Four districts in Brazos County were reported for the 2004-2005 school year on the TEA Accountability Reports. These included two Independent School Districts: Bryan ISD and College Station ISD, and two private/charter schools: Brazos School for Inquiry and Creativity and Eagle Academy of Bryan. Bryan ISD reports a 2005-2006 enrollment of 13,401 with an average of 26.1% African American student population [6] <> and College Station ISD reports a 2005-2006 enrollment of 8748 with a 13.6% African American student population. [7] <> Accountability reports were also found for Brazos School for Inquiry and Creativity, a tuition free charter school with two campuses in Brazos County, serving 118 students with a 21.8% African American population10 and Eagle Academy of Bryan serving 114 students with a 48.2% African American population.10 The Texas Education Agency 2005 District Accountability Summary reported all but one of these districts as Academically Acceptable.
Throughout history, we are confronted with stories of men and women who overcame great adversity to achieve seemingly impossible levels of greatness; men and women that would go on to be remembered for many decades and centuries to come. Matthew Gaines belongs to this elite group of individuals that made great strides to do good for their country and community. Gaines defied the social and economic limitations of his birth, worked to improve and enrich his community, and pushed for the founding of an institution of higher learning within Texas.
Gaines looked not only to improve the community around him, but also to usher the state into a new era of education. In the tumultuous times of the Civil War, United States Senator Justin Smith Morrill proposed a bill, which was eventually ratified, that proposed federal land to be set aside for the states to create agricultural and industrial institutions of higher learning 3. During Reconstruction, the benefits of the Morrill Land-Grant College Act were extended to the restored Confederate states. Democrats in the state senate were opposed to capitalizing on this opportunity for fear that the recently freed slaves would leave the fields and gain degrees from this public university 3. Once again, Gaines came to the forefront of the fight to strive for the founding of such a university where higher learning could be offered to all Texans. Gaines work in 1871 and his Free School Bill helped lay the foundation for defeating the opposing Democrats. Matthew Gaines’s seemingly bottomless supplies of passion and devotion to education and community helped secure the founding of Texas A&M University. When the school opened in 1876 African Americans were employed as cooks, janitors, maids, construction workers, and ground keepers. African Americans could not teach or attend school at A&M until 1963 4.
Education in Brazos County for African American students has gone from plantation site opportunities to full integration of all school activities. Children have equal opportunities for educational and extracurricular participation throughout the county both in public and private institutions.

[1] <> Odintz, Mark. "Handbook of Texas Online." 19 Jan. 2006. University of Texas. 17 Apr.-May 2006 .
[2] <> "Brazos County Historical Time Line." Brazos County Historical Time Line 1800-1829. 17 Apr. 2006 .
[3] <> "Brazos County Historical Time Line." Brazos County Historical Time Line 1875-1899. 17 Apr. 2006 .
[4] <> "Brazos County Historical Time Line." Brazos County Historical Time Line 1900-1919. 17 Apr. 2006 .
[5] <> "Brazos County Historical Time Line." Brazos County Historical Time Line 1920-1239. 17 Apr. 2006 .
[6] <> "Bryan Independent School District - Bryan, TX." 19 Apr. 2006 .
[7] <> "About CSISD." 17 Apr. 2006 .
8"In Fulfillment of a Dream - African Americans At Texas a&M University." In Fulfillment of a Dream. 17 Apr. 2006 .
9"Brazos County Historical Time Line." Brazos County Historical Time Line 1850-1874. 17 Apr. 2006 .
10"Texas Education Agency." Academic Excellence Indicator System. 17 Apr. 2006 .
11”U.S. Census Bureau.” 1990 Census of Population and Housing. 5 May2006

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