Davis High at Mid-Century

WWII drastically changed the landscape of the United States. The mass movement of people around the country and overseas during the war years reshaped the demographics of the country and the industrial might wielded to produce for the war effort helped catapult the U.S. into a new status as the world's leading economy. For much of the U.S., the post-war years would be an era of immense economic prosperity, but also the beginning of significant racial and cultural transformation. For Davis High, as the decade turned, the 1950s would bring changes similar to those seen around the country.  

Despite the massive changes brought by the war, in the late-1940s, for the students of David High, campus life was slowly returning to normal. However, hints of the recent war still lingered in the students' day to day lives. The 1946-47 Davis ROTC reported that while the group was "smaller than previous years the quality is high," and with the recent memory of the war, the goal of the ROTC was to prepare themselves with military skills, knowledge and tactics "should conditions make their services necessary."[1] 

The memories of the war persisted into the next decade side-by-side with students' daily concerns. A 1950 issue of the campus newspaper ran a headline titled "Let's End Lend-Lease," using the language of America's WWII Lend-Lease program that supplied war materials to its allies to report that "Every day someone borrows and lends paper or pencils or some other school article. Why is there so much of this?" And in 1954 the paper reported that the new school nurse, Miss Slagle, had previously served as a Chief Nurse in the army at a German POW camp in Texas. That same year Luda Karnach, a student from Ukraine who had survived the Nazi invasion during WWII, had since made it to the US and was thriving at Davis High.[2]

As for much of the country, in the years that followed World War II, Houston once again experienced an economic boom. During the war, Houston had been a major producer of materials like petroleum used to fuel tanks and planes and the petrochemicals used to manufacture items like synthetic rubber used in gas masks and airplane tires. At the height of the war effort, some of the employees in these industries were Davis High students and alumni. The Houston ship channel became the nerve-center of this petrochemical industrial complex and would be a key to Houston's post-WWII economic growth, shaping the city's foreseeable future. This economic boost drove the city's urban sprawl and soon a vast array of automobiles would be seen traversing the city's new freeways, fueling further economic growth as well as a new teen culture at high schools like Davis.[3]

Throughout the 1950s, this sentiment of growth and prosperity was reflected in the pages of the Davis yearbooks and school newspapers. Participation in pep rallies, school sports and clubs appeared to be at an all-time high. And the swim team was going strong, with the school paper announcing that the boys' and girls' swim teams would now be practicing together rather than separately. [5]

Reflecting on her Davis days at her 50th reunion, Class of 1953 alumni Carolyn Wagner reminisced that "I still have the target from the ROTC sponsors and the boy's [sic] basketball team rifle match. The boys challenged us and the girls won. They never teased us again about not knowing what we were doing." Wagner also recollected on school sports and student life that "losing every football game my senior year didn't really spoil our school spirit. We yelled like we were the district champions. The sock hops in the gymnasium and the MYF parties on Sunday evenings were such fun. The Tri Hi Y meetings at the YMCA on Irvington were always something to look forward to. These were the 'good ole days.'" And another '53 alumni, Mary Trapolino, recalled "I also looked forward to going to Stuart's Drive-In after football games, especially after Jeff Davis played Reagan."[6]

The economic prosperity that Houston experienced in the 1950s was accompanied by the fear and paranoia of the Cold War. After WWII, the U.S. government viewed the Soviet Union and its socialist government as the main threat to U.S. interests. Soon, anti-communism became an American religion and a red scare took hold nationwide. In HISD in the 1940s, a Texas law compelled all district personnel to sign loyalty oaths formally rejecting any affiliation with communist or "subversive groups." Any literature published in the Soviet Union was to be banned from Texas school libraries. This red scare hysteria infected many city elites and conservatives on the HISD school board and soon newly appointed Superintendent George W. Ebey came under the suspicion of the city's rabid anti-communists, with the most reactionary elements led by the Minute Women organization. A WWII veteran, Ebey's earlier activity in the liberal American Veterans Committee (AVC) and his denunciation of racism and bigotry earned him a "communist" label by Houston's reactionaries and in 1953 resulted in his dismissal as district superintendent. This dark chapter of American history would once again rear its ugly head in the 2020s as right-wing politicians in Texas and states across the country passed legislation banning the teaching of the history of racism and white supremacy and encouraging students and parents to report anti-racist teachers.[7] 

Houston's growth at the turn of the 20th century had been based on transportation over bayous and then later across rail. The Houston ship channel combined both water and rail transportation, brining Houston's economic status to new heights. By the middle of the 20th century, along with the growing petrochemical industry, air travel would be yet another frontier of economic prosperity, and in 1946 Houston was designated as "a great aerial gateway as well as an international shipping center." Over the course of the next decade, as the city's air travel industry took off, the novelty of air travel would soon be followed by the wonders of space travel.[10]

The Soviet Union's 1957 launch of the Sputnik satellite into space set off a space race between the two countries. Houston would soon be at the center of this race after NASA chose the city for its Apollo mission control center. The NASA center and the race to land on the moon would be key components of Houston's continued economic growth throughout the 1960s. However, despite this massive economic boost to the city, the prosperity brought by the space program was not evenly shared, with residents in the city's urban center largely left out. It was in this context of Houston's new status as "Space City U.S.A" that residents of Houston and the families of Houston ISD students began pushing for more equality and for their share of the city's growing economic pie.[11]