This is the concluding profile in a month-long series spotlighting Black leaders and pathbreakers for whom Austin ISD schools are named.
🔦 This week we spotlight native Austinite Dr. W. Charles Akins – an Austin ISD pathbreaker with a multitude of firsts, including the first Black principal at a desegregated Austin high school 🏫🍎.
Austin original: A graduate of Austin schools (Blackshear, Kealing and The Original L.C. Anderson), Akins earned degrees at what are now Huston-Tillotson University and Prairie View A&M University. He returned to his alma mater Anderson, earning “Teacher of the Year” honors.
🥇 A legacy of firsts: Akins taught at Austin ISD schools through the era of integration and busing 🚌, transferring from Anderson to Johnston High School – now Eastside Early College High School – where he became the first Black teacher at an integrated Austin high school.
📺🎙️Media Trailblazer: Akins officiated at UIL football 🏈 and other athletic events, and became the first local Black television sportscaster on what is now KLRU-TV.
📚 Akins’ Legacy: In 1982, Huston-Tillotson conferred an 🎓 Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters on Akins. In 1998, the Austin ISD Trustees named the district’s new high school for Akins in recognition of his legacy and lasting impact.
