Anita Blair, a 1933 graduate of Austin High School in El Paso, Texas, advocated for women, the blind, and the deaf. She also attended Alamogordo Jr. High in New Mexico. Although she lost her sight in an automobile accident when she was twenty, she went on to become a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1953-1955. She was the first woman to represent El Paso in the Texas State House of Representatives and the first blind woman to hold any legislative office in the State of Texas. Blair fought to improve conditions at the State School for the Deaf, co-sponsored an unsuccessful bill to allow women to serve on juries, and supported legislation to make jail time mandatory for drunk drivers. Blair opposed income and sales taxes, toll roads, and some anti-communist-hunting legislation. Blair also supported increasing teachers’ salaries. 

Blair was asked to talk to various clubs and organizations where she advocated for employment opportunities for the visually impaired and with the help of Fawn, her seeing eye dog, she earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master’s from the College of Mines and Metallurgy (now the University of Texas at El Paso). Blair and Fawn were well known nationally because of her career as a national freelance safety lecturer. She and Fawn traveled all over the country speaking about accident prevention to schools, factories, clubs, and organizations. The duo made national headlines when they escaped from the LaSalle Hotel fire in Chicago in 1946, and again in 1950 when Blair successfully protested her being denied entry in the United States Senate gallery because dogs were not allowed. She also was the only female member of President Harry Truman’s Safety Advisory Committee. She supported the establishment of a nursing school at the University of Texas at El Paso.

She was a remarkable woman to say the least. 

The Texas Historical Commission has been asked to approve a historical marker for her. The placement of choice is Austin High School in El Paso. It is important that the El Paso Independent School Board and the Cyndi Ponce the Principal of AHS to add their support for a historical marker. Your signature will help make a historical marker for Anita Blair a reality.

Time is of the essence, so please sign today and let your friends, family, and AHS classmates know about this petition.