Feb. 23, 2022 – In celebration of Black History Month, the SAISD Transportation Department today hosted its second annual Black History Potluck Lunch at its bus depot. The event also launched a museum with the theme “Rolling with the Best!” a nod to Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” album. 

B-roll: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uGMxJCgovvOzBJ3PWPk38U7xu-zWC63I/view?usp=sharing 

The museum highlights Black leaders who have SAISD schools named for them or who are connected in some way to transportation. The display is similar to last year’s “Living in My Skin” art exhibition, and books from the art exhibition are available at the museum display.

The museum will be open at the SAISD Transportation facility through Monday, Feb. 28, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Photos and biographies are provided for the following individual and industry leaders:

• Artemisia Bowden (Bowden Academy) – school administrator and civic leader.
• Bella Cameron (Cameron Elementary School) – first African American to be named principal in an SAISD school; began teaching in SAISD in 1919.
• Henry Carroll (Carroll Early Childhood Education Center) – longtime SAISD assistant athletic director.
• Stonewall Jackson Davis (Davis Middle School) – first Black trustee on the San Antonio Library Board; also St. Philip’s College faculty member.
• Frederick Douglass (Douglass Academy) – social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman.
• Samuel H. Gates (Gates Elementary School) – former Grant Elementary principal and longtime administrator in the San Antonio public schools.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. (M.L. King Academy) – acclaimed civil rights leader.
• Dorie Miller (Miller Elementary School) –Navy Cook Third Class who distinguished himself by courageous conduct during the attack on Pearl Harbor. 
• Booker T. Washington (Washington Elementary School) – American educator, author, orator, and advisor to presidents of the United States.
• Phillis Wheatley (former Wheatley High School) – 18th-century American author who was the first African American author of a published book of poetry.
• Mary Fields – in 1895, first African American postal carrier at 60 years old. 
• Frederick Jones – created the refrigerated truck.
• Garrett Morgan – created the stop and go light.
• Rosa Parks – American activist in the civil rights movement.
• Safe Bus Company – first African American owned bus company.