Fort Worth’s century-old Sagamore Hill Negro School, with its slanted roof and gabled porches, has no historic marker and no sign above the door — yet it merits landmark status. Originally a four-room schoolhouse for Black children learning their ABCs, the building was constructed in 1924 with blueprints and partial funding from a Jewish philanthropist.
It is one of 464 Rosenwald Schools that opened in Texas between 1913 and 1932, years of stark racial disparities. Thirty-six of these little schoolhouses still stand in Texas in some form, many as community spaces, according to the Texas Almanac.
Fort Worth’s rare, Rosenwald School has been modernized and well maintained by the Fort Worth Independent School District, yet it hosts few educational activities. Its doors at 5100 Willie St., on the campus of the Dunbar Young Men’s Leadership Academy in Stop Six, are usually locked…