Fellow Students and Their Corpus Christi Projects

So, I've been looking at some Corpus Christi Projects.... and they're pretty impressive and visually stimulating, I must admit.
I'll be talking about them in this post.

First I'll be talking about Sabrina Chapa's History Project titled "EPA's and Refinary Row's Impacts on The Environment". First of all, just looking at the Home Page and the layout, I like the background and the neatness of it. The quote is cute and the menu is not confusing or hard to find. The importance page taught me a great deal like how Corpus Christi was at times seen as one of the cleanest ports in the world and that the city was at one time on the list of Dirtiest Cities. That contrast is funny yet sort of sad. I like that she conducted a survey and put the results up in the form of a horizontal bar graph. Overall, I really like it and from all the information, photos, and organization, it is easy to see how much work she has done on it.

Second is Janelle Escatiola's Corpus Christi History Project titled "Local History Project: The Museum of Science and History". I think the website is easily maneuvered and the font is large and clear; very readable. The articles she got from the library are informative and I learned that the museum has  been around since the 50s! And that it was first called the junior museum by a board of 36 members! There were a couple of typos but the website was informative.

It is nice to see the hard work my fellow students have done.

Ending Thoughts: Solomon M. Coles Corpus Christi History Project.

So.... this is the end. I'm not exactly sure how I should feel about it. I feel ...... deeper if that makes sense though I feel like my final result (weebly page) may not show it.
I feel like I learned a great deal about Corpus Christi and its Black community. Completing this project has made searching and interpreting local history not seem as hard as it did in the beginning. The fact that we have a local library here in Corpus Christi that actually offers all sorts of information on local history is insane and I never even thought we would, for some reason. I went into the library thinking there would be nothing on Solomon M. Coles and what he did for Corpus Christi but there was plenty of stuff. More than I though there would be! It shows that there are people who are passionate about keeping local history alive and accessible to everyone. This comforts me.

One last word on this topic:

Mr. Solomon M. Coles,
Thank you. Though I am not Black, I doubt that would have mattered to you. You meant to free and you did. You meant to educate and you did. You meant to inspire and you did. You freed me, you educated me, and you inspire me. Because of you, I feel responsible for creating opportunities for myself and others less fortunate.
Thank you.

Solomon M. Coles Historical Marker: Former Solomon M. Coles Elementary, Now Recreation Center.

 So, I've found it. What I did not know existed. Pardon my creepy smile but I was excited that I was standing on the very ground where many Black children and teens had been educated. This school was a high school for Black kids in Corpus Christi who could only go to school for two months. This school is also the first school for Black children in Corpus Christi. It was turned into an elementary school after the desegregation act of 1967 and closed down as an elementary school in 2005. There is so much history resting on this land and in this building.

 The plaques honoring Solomon M. Coles are fitting and make me proud because though I am not Black, I can see how important this school must have been, what opportunities it offered. My cousins even attended this elementary school before it closed down. My trip to the library gave me access to news articles written about reunions of high school students of this school and the enthusiasm and appreciative attitudes could be heard in the words of the alumni. This school is not unlike the school for Mexican children.

My project has taught me alot and though I struggled a lot, I am trying my best to make my project in perfect honor of Solomon M. Coles' greatness.

Solomon M. Coles: The Frustrations And Struggles

   So...... Despite thinking that I would find a wealth of information on the significant Mr. Coles it turns out very little has been written about him. I have found a couple of short descriptions of him on several web pages but they are basic and sort of vague. One of the most helpful web pages mentioned that Mr. Coles wrote articles for some Texas papers so it would be great if I could get copies of his works and through them hear his voice, his thoughts, and his opinions. After all, I'll learn more from his own words than from anyone else's. I plan to investigate and search for these works at the public library.
    I have discovered that the Del Mar Library has a biography of him so I am eager to get my hands on it.
      I've also looked into his family and I found one short sentence as an answer to this search: he had two daughters who died soon after being born. I deduce that he has no living descendants but since I am not 100% surely positive about this deduction I will continue to look into his family.
  It's tough finding thorough and helpful information on Mr. Coles but I won't give up fellow History students!

Fighting!

Buc Days

Since I've never participated in Buc Days as a spectator (I marched in the parade with my Wynn Seale Middle School Band twice) and my parents haven't really been, I decided to interview my cousin, Jose Ramos.
He says this has been his fifth time at Buc Days and that he enjoys it mainly for the rides. He said he bought the bracelet sold in order to be able to just walk around riding the rides. He said he felt pumped up because he pretty much knew what rides were going to be here this year from having ridden them last year. He was really happy about how his mother, my aunt, seemed to also be enjoying the experience too. He also feels like Buc Days is important because he saw a lot of ethnicities come together in order to relax, have a fun time, and show some city pride.

Cheston L. Heath School

So, this is my sister and me at the Corpus Christi Courthouse. Oh, and my brother's hands and legs are in on this one too. He insisted.
For this picture we hopped in the car, my whole family, and went in search of the historical marker in the picture. I asked my father if he knew about the school made for Mexican Americans and he had no idea! Well, neither did I.
But I am quite happy they, the state of Texas, have acknowledged the importance of the Cheston L. Heath school to Corpus Christi history, Texas history, and Mexican-American history. It's sort of weird thinking about how at one point in South Texas history, an area that is now predominately Hispanic, Mexican-American students were separated from other students. I'm happy Mexican-American students were then allowed to attend the same schools as other students but I am sort of sad that the school that offered so many first opportunities to non-white students has been put to rest. But I suppose that is why the marker was put in place.
Here is a close-up of the historical marker and the history it highlights:

Interesting stuff, no?

See you next time, fellow history students!

Solomon M. Coles; The Introduction

The topic that I chose for my Corpus Christi History Project is Mr. Solomon M. Coles. I'm going to be straight up honest right now; I just picked a random topic. Though this might seem bad since many people encourage others to look into something that will really interest them because people tend to have a lot less enthusiasm when it comes to something they are not genuinely interested in, I am actually happy I chose a random topic. Why? Because at the time I glanced upon Mr. Solomon M. Coles' namesake, I had no preconception or perceived idea of who he was. In all honestly, I thought he was some rich white guy who Del Mar had decided to name a building after. Okay, maybe I did have some preconceptions but they were just my darn prejudices. Essentially, I was just guessing.
But when I began to look him up, I discovered that he was one of Yale's first Black students and that he'd been an educator here in Texas! And he lived so long ago!
Books have also been written about him and I really want to buy them and read them. The books about him seem to be written by two authors and I read somewhere they are from here, Corpus Christi. This may just be a mistake but if they are from here, I could maybe get in touch with them. I can also look into Del Mar's sources on him or visit the public libraries.
I feel like this project isn't going to be as tough as I expected it would be since I already found much more information of Mr. Coles than I thought I would.