Sam Tasby Middle School

The fourth of eight children, Sam Tasby was born in Canfield, Arkansas on November 21, 1921. With only a seventh grade education, Tasby left school to support his family . At the age of 20, he moved to Dallas looking for better job opportunities.  

In 1946, six years after moving to Texas, Tasby married Georgia Green. Over the next few years, they had six children: Peggy, Lilly, Sammy, Melvin, Eddie and their youngest child Phillip. Because he did not graduate from high school, Tasby said his job choices were limited, and he wanted a better life for his children. So, he stressed to them from an early age the importance of pursuing education.

In 1954, Tasby moved his family to the Arlington Park community. Tasby, the young man from Arkansas with a seventh grade education, likely never dreamed that his commitment to his children’s education would turn him into a plaintiff seeking to desegregate Dallas schools. However, after 16 years in the community he felt it necessary to pursue change for the good of his children. Tasby filed a lawsuit when his son, Phillip, was denied admission to two all-white schools near his home, and was forced to attend an all-black school miles away.

The lawsuit filed in federal court charged the Dallas Independent School District with continuing a dual school system prohibited under the Supreme Court’s 1954 historic Brown v. Board of Education decision. Parents representing 18 other children joined Tasby as plaintiffs. The Tasby litigation was initiated on October 6, 1970. Following the trial that took place from July 12 to July 16, 1971, a U.S. district judge ruled that a dual system existed in the Dallas school system and ordered DISD to develop a plan to desegregate its schools.

Over the next 10 years, several plans were presented and rejected by the courts. In 1981, the Fifth Circuit Court upheld the third desegregation plan presented. For the 30 years that followed, the court required the Dallas school district to create programs to give students of all races equal opportunities to learn. The long history of judicial oversight of DISD initiated by the Tasby case ended in 2003.

Tasby’s lawsuit made it possible for his son to attend a school in his own neighborhood. It paved the way for the creation of magnet schools, bilingual education programs and other innovations to improve educational equity for all children. Tasby said the lawsuit also created opportunities for people to secure better jobs and helped to desegregate public places.

Among many honors and accolades presented to Tasby are an NAACP award, resolutions from the DISD Board of Trustees and the Texas House of Representatives and an Arlington Park Elementary School library named in his honor. In 2005, Tasby was inducted into the African American Education Archives and History Program Educators Hall of Fame in Dallas.

etired since 1989, Sam Tasby is still a resident of the Arlington Park community. His neighbors, community leaders and city officials consider him a trailblazer whose actions ensured educational equality for all DISD students.