(EDUCATION.) Photos of a segregated school parade in eastern Texas. 13 black and white parade photographs, 3½ x 5 inches; uncaptioned, minimal wear. Gilmer, TX, 31 October 1958
This parade was held on Halloween as part of the celebrations of the annual East Texas Yamboree in Gilmer, Texas, celebrating the town's main crop--yams. The town's white schools held their parade in the morning, and then the "colored school parade" was held in the afternoon. These 13 photographs are all from the afternoon parade.
The parade was covered at length in the Gilmer Mirror on 6 November 1958, including one photograph which nearly matches one found here, taken from the same vantage point just moments later. Shown here in 6 snapshots are the winning float, described by the newspaper: "Valley View School's float of 'Twilight,' which depicted a romantic scene in the garden, with a gentleman singing to his sweetheart. Also a girl waits for her lover as twilight falls around the arbor scene." 2 shots show the second-place winner, "Bethlehem School's float . . . titled 'Sunrise,' it showed a scene from the poem 'Merlin and the Gleam' by Tennyson, woodland fairies observing the awakened heroine flanked by a green pyramid which had the sunrise on top." 2 more shots show the third-place float, "Bruce High with a 'Sunset' on the prairie scene. In front of a red-striped gold sun was a campfire scene complete with cactus, fire, burro, and three cowboys." We question the reporting on this one; those cowboys don't look like high school students. Finally, three shots show cars promoting local businesses, and a marching band.
With--11 other photographs of children and schools, apparently also from Gilmer, same size or smaller.
