Black Texomans Honored

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This article appeared in the Spring 2008 issue of Texoma Living!.

Walter E. Potts was born in Denison in 1892 and lived to be 105 years old. The son of William and Mollie Potts distinguished himself in World War I serving as one of thousands of “Buffalo Soldiers” assigned to the U.S. Army’s 92nd and 93rd Infantry Divisions. The 92nd was attached to France’s 4th Army. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre. Potts is included in a new exhibit “The History of Black Texans: Since 1541.” The exhibit runs through June at the Red River Historical Museum. Fred Douglass School, named for the freed slave, Fredrick Douglass, was established in 1889 in a small frame building in the 300 block of East College Street in Sherman and the museum’s collection of yearbooks, photos and newspaper clippings chronicle its 78-year history. After the original frame structure burned in 1904—and a replacement 2-story framed building that also burned in 1918—a masonry building was constructed at 501 E. College. In 1956, it was razed and replaced. It was not until the 1967-68 school year that the Sherman school system was integrated.

Red River Historical Museum
301 S. Walnut Street
Sherman, TX 75090
(903) 893-7623
www.texoma.net/rrhms
Open Tue.-Sat. 10am-4pm Closed Mon. & Sun.
Free admission, donations encouraged.