Julia Guerrero EDINBURG– February is nationally known as Black History Month; a time to recognize black history and culture.
Those looking for ways to learn about black history do not have to go far thanks to a local presence in the RGV.
Lonnie Davis, board member of the San Benito Callandret Black History Museum, expressed there is black history in our area.
“We don’t need to leave the Rio Grande Valley to find out about black history or brown history,” Davis said. “It’s all here. We need to do a little digging and find out how it really was and face up to it and go on.”
The museum is recognized as the first black history museum south of San Antonio and will be recognized by the Texas Historical Commission with a historical marker next month.
Sandra Tumberlinson, treasurer for the San Benito Historical Society, also serves on the board for the museum.
Tumberlinson said the building was originally one of the first established schools for black children in the 20th century.
“A lot of school districts didn’t support the black schools,” Tumberlinson said. “This was the first school district to actually support a black school. They didn’t support it very well, according to our standards, but they did support it.”
Davis, who is also a former student of the Callandret school, encouraged the community to explore some of the untold stories of black history from our own area.
“We would like people who move here to know there was rich black history in the Rio Grande Valley,” Davis said.
Much like the museum, the African Students Association at UTRGV said it hopes to connect with the local African community.
Founded in Fall 2023, the organization was formed to help build a supportive community for students of African descent on campus.
According to Jeffrey Opoku, president and founder of the ASA, Black History Month is a way to recognize the contributions of the black community in the U.S. and celebrate the African heritage much like ASA.
“The whole idea was to kind of like foster a sense of Pan-Africanism and to bring us all together where we get to celebrate African heritage,” Opoku said. “Also, to kind of provide that kind of peer support among ourselves so we can belong in the small community.”
To learn more about the organization of museum, visit their page on Instagram at asa_utrgv and callandretmuseum.com.
