L.C. Anderson football helmet

Austin's L.C. Anderson High School first opened in 1889 as the upper grade level of Robertson Hill School. It became Austin's only African American high school after a 1928 urban plan created racially segregated zones separated by what is now Interstate 35. Anderson High and its football and band events became the heart of Austin’s eastside. Anderson’s marching band won seven PVIL state championships. The football team garnered statewide attention from the 1940s through the 1960s, earning four state titles and setting a PVIL record of 24 straight wins. 

Anderson High School was part of the Prairie View Interscholastic League (PVIL). Originally called the Texas Interscholastic League of Colored Schools, it was formed in 1920 as the governing body for athletic, academic, and music competitions at African American high schools in Texas. It was a counterpart to the University Interscholastic League (UIL), which was open only to public white schools. At its peak, over 150 African American high schools were members of PVIL. After 1954, desegregation led to many of those schools closing and to the UIL accepting integrated and African American schools. In 1970, PVIL officially merged with UIL.