06/19/2026
What a great story about longtime resident Gloria Williams who paved the way for black Americans in Rockwall.
Happy Juneteenth Rockwall. 🇺🇸🎉🥳
As Juneteenth commemorates the announcement of freedom to enslaved people in Texas on June 19, 1865, it also invites reflection on the generations that followed—individuals and communities who pursued education, opportunity, and self-determination despite persistent barriers. Stories like that of Gloria Williams remind us that local history is shaped not only by institutions and events, but by the determination of people whose experiences have too often been overlooked or left out of the historical record.
Gloria Williams’ greatest childhood ambition was to complete her high school education. Yet for an African American girl growing up in Rockwall during the 1940s, that goal seemed nearly unattainable. At the time, public schools remained segregated, and educational opportunities for African American students in Rockwall extended only through the eighth grade.
"The year I finished the eighth grade, they added one more grade to our school," said Gloria. "But after the ninth grade, black students quit school and went to work. There was no place for them to go in Rockwall to get more education. This was before the Bourn Avenue School was built. The Garland schools had a black junior high that went to the tenth grade and I begged my mother to let me go to Garland to school."
Outside of school, Gloria was already balancing significant responsibilities. She worked in the cotton fields and was entrusted with keeping the workers’ weights—a position that carried both responsibility and comparatively strong wages. Her father believed she already had opportunities many others did not and questioned the need for additional schooling. Her mother, however, recognized her determination and advocated on her behalf, and Gloria was ultimately given the opportunity to continue her education.
To attend school in Garland, Gloria first had to receive permission from both the principal of the Garland school and Rockwall Superintendent J. A. Wilkerson. If approved, she would travel each day by bus—departing Rockwall at 6:00 a.m. and paying fare both directions.
"I was fifteen years old and I went to Mr. Wilkerson and told him of my desire to finish high school," said Gloria. "Mr. Wilkerson and the district had no money set aside for such things, but because of my great desire to finish school, he gave me the money right out of his own pocket."
Each morning, Gloria woke before sunrise and walked into downtown Rockwall to catch the Continental Trailways bus. She waited outside the old Rockwall Drug Store on the southeast corner of the square.
"It was hard walking up to town and standing on the corner in all kinds of weather," said Gloria. "Some of the white ladies told me I should come inside and wait when it was bad weather, but I told them that my mother told me not to do that. She said someone might come in that wasn't kind and it would cause a fuss and I wouldn't be able to go to school anymore."
After completing the tenth grade, Gloria was transported with other Garland students to Dallas’ Booker T. Washington High School to complete the eleventh and twelfth grades. For two years, she traveled by two buses each day—one from Rockwall to Garland and another onward to Dallas—before repeating the journey home each evening.
By that time, J. A. Wilkerson had retired due to health concerns, and Gloria’s family assumed responsibility for her transportation costs. In the fall of 1949, financial hardship placed her education at risk. Determined to continue, Gloria wrote to a Dallas school official requesting permission to graduate early. She was told that if she doubled her core coursework and maintained passing grades, she would be permitted to receive her diploma in January rather than June.
In January 1950, Gloria Williams graduated from Dallas Booker T. Washington High School with triple honors.
Her story stands as a testament to perseverance and to the generations of African American students and families who pursued education despite unequal opportunities. Preserving and sharing stories like Gloria’s helps ensure that the individuals whose contributions have not always been fully represented remain part of Rockwall’s historical record and collective memory.
Pictured here is Gloria Williams in the mid-1940s
Historical content featured here is adapted from The History of Rockwall & the Surrounding Area, published by the Rockwall County Historical Foundation. Copies are available for purchase at the museum gift shop
