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African American families began buying land and building homes in the Independence Heights community in 1908. During the formative years before incorporation, community leaders and pastors established Independence Heights School in a local church to serve students. A 1911 petition to Harris County Commissioners Court resulted in a two-room house being moved from Sunset Heights to E. 39th Street as the official city school. The first teacher, Oliphant Lockwood Hubbard, later served as principal and the mayor of Independence Heights. His wife, Ella Hubbard, was also a teacher and principal at the school. From its early years, the school hosted political and community meetings and served as an important cultural center. Olen Pullum (O.P.) DeWalt was a later principal who became a notable civil rights leader in Houston.
O.P. DeWalt and C.F. Richardson were on the Colored Citizens Committee which in 1923 addressed the Houston School Board about inequalities, proposing bond allocation for a new school. It was completed on E. 33rd St. in 1928. Principal Percy H. Holden proposed naming the school for notable educator James Dallas Burrus (1846-1928), who was born into slavery, graduated from Fisk University and Dartmouth College, and was professor of mathematics at Fisk for 47 years. In its first year, James D. Burrus Elementary School served 185 students with five teachers. By the 1930s, enrollment reached more than 600 students with 13 teachers. The school became a junior high for many years. Through the process of desegregating Houston schools, the addition of new middle schools and rezoning, the Burrus campus returned to an elementary school. One of the city's oldest schools continues a proud legacy of progressive education and deep roots in the community. |
