Honoring Lillian B. Horace: Fort Worth educator, writer, trailblazer

Honoring Lillian B. Horace: Fort Worth educator, writer, trailblazer

Published on February 03, 2026

Each February, Black History Month offers an opportunity to reflect on historical events and the individuals whose lives and leadership helped shape the past and present.

Among those figures is Fort Worth's very own Lillian Bertha Jones Horace, an educator, author and community leader whose decades of service left a lasting mark on Black education and civic life in the city.

Born in Texas on April 12, 1880, Horace grew up during a time when Fort Worth's public school system was still developing. She attended Fort Worth's first public school for Black students and later earned advanced credentials at Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College, now Prairie View A&M University, becoming a certified teacher at a time when educational opportunities for Black women were severely limited. Her academic achievement alone placed her among a small but determined group of women who used education as a pathway to professional independence and community uplift.

Horace spent much of her career teaching in Fort Worth, including at I.M. Terrell High School, where she educated generations of students during the era of segregation. Former students and colleagues later credited her with setting high academic expectations and encouraging young people, particularly young women, to pursue leadership and lifelong learning. Her work helped establish I.M. Terrell's reputation as one of Texas' most respected Black high schools during the Jim Crow era.

Beyond the classroom, Horace was also an avid writer and generally cerebral. She is recognized as Texas' earliest known Black woman novelist, self-publishing Five Generations Hence in 1916, a rare achievement for a Black woman in the early 20th century. She also kept extensive diaries and wrote essays examining education, race and social responsibility, documenting both her personal journey and the broader Black experience of her time.

Although Horace traveled widely for education and professional opportunities, she repeatedly returned to Fort Worth. Her decision to invest her talents back into her community here in Fort Worth reflected a deep commitment to improving local institutions rather than leaving them behind. In Fort Worth, she remained active in several civic, educational and religious organizations, contributing to clubs, professional associations and church-based initiatives that supported Black advancement and community life.

Horace's legacy is one of notable perseverance, intellect and service. Through her teaching, writing and community leadership, she helped shape Fort Worth's educational history and expanded what was possible for Black women.

For more information about Lillian B. Horace, contact the Fort Worth History Center.

Photo at top: Horace in the library at I.M. Terrell; she is lifting a newspaper on a wooden pole and holding a book. Courtesy of the Fort Worth Digital Archives, Fort Worth History Center.

Photo: An in-color photo taken of Lillian B. Horace. Courtesy of the Fort Worth Digital Archives, Fort Worth History Center.

Photo: Two diary entries written by Horace. Courtesy of the Fort Worth Digital Archives, Fort Worth History Center.

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