Sam Tasby, a civil rights pioneer who fought to desegregate Dallas ISD schools, has died at the age of 93.
Sam Tasby appears at a naturalization ceremony at Sam Tasby Middle School.
Dallas ISD named a school after Tasby, who was also a World War II veteran. Sam Tasby Middle School is open in northeast Dallas at 7001 Fair Oaks Ave.
Dallas ISD Interim Superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa said the city of Dallas lost a pioneer with the passing of Tasby.
“Mr. Tasby drastically changed our school district for the better by standing up for what is right,” Hinojosa said. “Our thoughts are with his family as they mourn and remember this great man.”
The Dallas Morning News did an in-depth profile over the weekend on Tasby, who was the lead plaintiff in a 1970 class-action lawsuit to desegregate Dallas ISD schools. Tasby led the lawsuit when he learned his two of his sons could not attend a “white school” near his home, the Dallas Morning News reports. A federal judge ordered the district to desegregate its schools the following year.
