Crowley names new school for family who broke racial barriers

CBS News

2 days ago

History — and the heroes behind it — often hide in plain sight.
"Walking in that white school for the first time you know... it was a scary moment," recalls Billy Baylor of Crowley. "Yes, it was a very scary moment."
It was a moment Baylor never forgot.
It was 1965, and he and his siblings — Alton, Linda and Jackie — were stepping bravely into the buzzsaw of change and hate. The Baylors were the first Black family to integrate Crowley schools.
"You had people on this side of the street yelling at you as you walked by," Baylor remembers. "You just walked on... try not to say nothing, just keep walking."
Now 74, Baylor remembers with tears the betrayal of a white student who had convinced him he was a friend before luring the ninth grader outside to this.
"The bus was here... and that's when all the kids started yelling at me... every kid on that bus. They [racial slur] me to death," Baylor recently shared for a Crowley ISD video on the family's history. "Everybody on that bus. I stared in a daze and then walked back in the building." He wipes his eyes and continues, "That happened, but a lot of people treated me well."
Decades later, healing in Crowley will have the last word. It all began when Superintendent Michael McFarland became curious about the history of Black students in the area. A local author and historian, Sandie Isaacs, had written about a school for Black children before integration. McFarland wanted to know more. Isaacs led him to the Baylor family.
"I'm like, 'Is any of the family around?'" recalls McFarland. "And she was like, 'Yes, he works at Russell Feed.' And I'm like, 'Oh, my gosh! Like it was like a lightning bolt.'"
Then lightning struck again. Following McFarland's recommendation, the Crowley school board voted unanimously in February to make Baylor Elementary a reality.
"When Mr. McFarland said 'Congratulations, Mr. Baylor,' I said 'Oh my God,'" said Baylor, wiping away more tears. "I was overwhelmed... I was very touched."
And if you think that having the Baylor name on the building is special, consider this: his granddaughter Blair will be one of the new school's first students.
"I try to keep telling my granddaughter, 'Hey, don't worry about what people call you. We know who we are. We are the Baylors.'"
Still, it will be years before she and her classmates can fully understand what the honor cost her ancestors. But having their name on the building is a lesson of its own.
"It's not just that they integrated the school," McFarland said. "But he integrated the school, remained in this community, and is just loved and beloved. So for someone to be able to go through all of that and then to still be here... that he chose, he chose love over hate."
Even when the memories—and the tears—remain.
"Mom, Dad, I made it," shares Baylor... and then, as he wipes his eyes again, "Quit crying, Bill!"
It's OK. Some moments were made for tears.