The evolving narrative within the pages of the book uncovers the deeply rutted paths to literacy ownership carved by turn-of-the-twentieth century African American citizens’ groups in San Antonio, Texas. The story becomes more than a turn-of-the-twentieth century Colored school’s history; it becomes a people’s story inculcating the essence of their cultural history in San Antonio’s cultural landscape. Through self-determinist strategies powered by agency and cultural capital, these literacy warriors step forward to stake their claim for literacy ownership. The impetus for the establishment of the George W. Brackenridge Colored School is initiated by a small group of Colored people who come to petition for more schools for their children. Within the story of the citizens’ groups and the Brackenridge Colored School, another person emerges as a symbol of the school’s beginnings. The school’s namesake, George W. Brackenridge, moves in and out of the events centered on the Board’s decisions regarding learning facilities for the Colored community. For all of his philanthropic endeavors during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, George W. Brackenridge remains as a memorialized symbol still standing tall, not only in the African American communities, but in other communities and institutions through out San Antonio and the state of Texas. However, only a few remember, or are even aware of the Colored citizens’ initiatives put forth for the building of the school, bearing the name of its financial and morally bent benefactor, a much needed ally in the nearby Colored community surrounding the school at the turn of the twentieth century. And now, the rest of the story.
