Public high school in Washington, D.C., United States
Paul Laurence Dunbar High School is a historically black public secondary school located in Washington, D.C. The school was America's first public high school for black students.
The school is located in the Truxton Circle neighborhood of Northwest Washington, two blocks from the intersection of New Jersey and New York avenues. Dunbar, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the District of Columbia Public Schools.
From the early 20th century to the 1950s, Dunbar became known as the classical academic high school for black students in segregated public schools. As all public school teachers were federal civil servants, the school's teachers received pay equal to white teachers in other schools in the district. It attracted high-quality faculty, many with advanced degrees, including doctorates. Parents sent their children to the school from across the city because of its high standards. Many of its alumni graduated from top-quality colleges and universities and gained professional degrees. An early principal was Mary Jane Patterson.[6][7]
History
The school was founded in 1870 by William Syphax, President of the Board of Trustees for Colored Schools, as the Preparatory High School for Colored Youth. The school was started at the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church. From 1891 to 1916, it became known as M Street High School. The school was America's first public high school for black students. When its location was changed from M Street, the school was renamed in 1916 for the noted African-American poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar, who died in 1906.[8]
Dunbar High School, Washington DC in 1917
As the city established other high schools, it designated Dunbar as its academic high school, with other schools providing more vocational or technical training. Dunbar was known for its excellent academics, enough so that some black parents moved to Washington specifically so their children could attend it. All the public school teachers were federal employees, and Dunbar's faculty was paid well by the standards of the time, earning parity pay with Washington's white school teachers. The school boasted many graduates who went on to higher education and a generally successful student body.[8]: 91
Dunbar's original 1916 building, designed by architect Snowden Ashford, was demolished in 1977 and subsequently rebuilt; the resulting building was in turn demolished and rebuilt in 2013.[9]
In the 21st century, Dunbar is similar to Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Baltimore, Maryland and Fort Worth, Texas, as all three schools have a majority African-American student body and are of major importance to the local African-American community. All three schools are also highly regarded for their athletic programs within their respective school district in football, basketball, and track. There is also a Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Lexington, Kentucky.[8]: 307
One of Dunbar's first principals in Washington, D.C., was the first black graduate of Harvard College. Almost all the teachers had graduate degrees, and several earned PhDs. By the 1950s, Dunbar High School sent 80 percent of its students to college.[8]: 173
According to economist Thomas Sowell's 2015 appraisal, this all changed after the landmark United States Supreme Court Case Brown v. Board of Education that ruled for integration of public schools:
"For Washington, the end of racial segregation led to a political compromise, in which all schools became neighborhood schools. Dunbar, which had been accepting outstanding black students from anywhere in the city, could now accept only students from the rough ghetto neighborhood in which it was located. Virtually overnight, Dunbar became a typical ghetto school. As unmotivated, unruly and disruptive students flooded in, Dunbar teachers began moving out and many retired. More than 80 years of academic excellence simply vanished into thin air."[10]
Until 1954, Fairfax County, Virginia, had no secondary schools for black students. Dunbar and several other District of Columbia public schools accepted black students from the county before that time.[12][13]
Admissions
Chinatown is among the areas in the school's attendance area.[14]
Anthony Jones, former basketball player for Georgetown Univ and UNLV. Jones was selected in the first round by the Washington Bullets in the 1986 NBA Draft. Also played for the Spurs, Bulls, and Mavericks[27]
Michael Smith, NBA Smith was selected by the Sacramento Kings in the second round of the 1994 NBA draft. He played for the Kings, Vancouver Grizzlies, and Washington Wizards.[31]
Government
Eleanor Holmes Norton in 1955 yearbookMary Burke Washington (1944), economist and government official[32]
Wesley A. Brown, first African-American graduate of the US Naval Academy[33]
Allison Davis (1920), anthropologist, educator, scholar; first African American to hold full faculty position at a major white institution, namely, University of Chicago[46][47]
John Aubrey Davis Sr. Civil rights activist, head academic researcher on Brown v. The Board of Education, New Negro Alliance co-founder and political science professor[48][47]
^Terrell, Mary Church (July 1917). "History of the High School for Negroes in Washington". The Journal of Negro History. 2 (3): 252–266 – via JSTOR.
^ a b c d eStewart, Alison (2013). First Class: The Legacy of Dunbar, America's First Black Public High School. Chicago Review Press. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-61374-009-5.
^Flynn, Katherine (December 21, 2016). "America's First African-American Public High School Is Remaking Itself". Retrieved December 15, 2022.
^Sowell, Thomas (October 4, 2016). "Dunbar High School after 100 Years". Creators Syndicate. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
^ a b c d e"In Nation's First Black Public High School, A Blueprint For Reform". All Things Considered. NPR. July 29, 2013.
^"History Archived August 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine." Luther Jackson Middle School. Retrieved on June 4, 2016.
^"A History of Luther P. Jackson High School: A Report of a Case Study on the Development of a Black High School" (thesis abstract). Virginia Tech. Retrieved on June 4, 2016.
^Hoffer, Audrey (September 19, 2019). "In fast-changing Chinatown, a struggle to preserve traditions amid development". Washington Post. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
^Dunbar High School
^Cripps, Thomas (May 20, 1993). Making Movies Black: The Hollywood Message Movie from World War II to the Civil Rights Era. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-536034-9.
^Schudel, Matt (April 3, 2012). "Elizabeth Catlett, pioneering D.C.-born artist, dies at 96". The Washington Post.
^Brown, Joe (November 14, 1983). "Washington's 'Wiz'". The Washington Post.
^New York City WPA Art. NYC WPA Artists. 1977. p. 35.
^Barnes, Bart (February 10, 1995). "Washington Poet, Playwright May Miller Sullivan Dies at 96". The Washington Post.
^Mergner, Lee (April 26, 2019). "Dr. Billy Taylor, Jazz Pianist, Dies". JazzTimes.
^Shinhoster Lamb, Yvonne (January 23, 2005). "Arts Administrator, Playwright Vantile Whitfield Dies". The Washington Post.
^ a bGoldenbach, Alan (November 23, 2006). "Different Paths, Same End". The Washington Post.
^ a b c dAllen, Scott (October 18, 2016). "Dunbar High football alumni ruled the NFL in Week 6". The Washington Post.
^ a bPomerantz, Gary (April 2, 1986). "After the Fast Breaks Come the Tough Breaks". The Washington Post.
^"Cornelius Green Ohio State's 1st black QB has DC roots". USA Today High School Sports. November 7, 2014.
^Hill Jr, Edward (November 13, 1980). "Dunbar's Mr. Jones: Crimson Tide's Ticket To Basketball Heaven". The Washington Post.
^Schudel, Matt (March 14, 2014). "Wil Jones, flamboyant UDC basketball coach, dies at 75" The Washington Post. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
^"Dunbar grad Kelley takes national honor". The Washington Times. March 29, 2007.
^Barr, Josh (March 14, 1999). "Dunbar Hangs On To Wear the Crown". The Washington Post.
^Janes, Chelsea (October 30, 2014). "Throwback Thursday: Oct. 30, 1989, when Dunbar's Michael Smith picked Providence". The Washington Post.
^Bernstein, Adam (December 5, 2014). "Mary Washington, government official and widow of former D.C. mayor, dies at 88". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
^Shapiro, T. Rees (May 25, 2012). "Wesley A. Brown, first black Naval Academy graduate, dies at 85". The Washington Post.
^"Army Maj. Gen. Frederic Davison Dies at 82". The Washington Post. January 30, 1990.
^Martin, Douglas (January 3, 2015). "Edward W. Brooke III, 95, Senate Pioneer, Is Dead". The New York Times.
^ a b c d"D.C.'s Dunbar High, America's First Black Public High School". The Kojo Nnamdi Show. August 20, 2013.
^"Honoring Rear Admiral Lawrence Cleveland Larry Chambers". Congressional Record Vol. 164, No. 52. United States House of Representatives. March 26, 2018. p. E372.
^"Fauntroy Election Certified". The Washington Post. April 6, 1971. p. C6. Archived from the original on October 15, 2012. Retrieved July 28, 2008.
^Lindsay, Drew (May 1, 2004). "The Decision That Changed Everything | Washingtonian (DC)". Washingtonian.
^McQuiston, John T. (June 6, 1988). "Clarence M. Pendleton, 57, Dies; Head of Civil Rights Commission". The New York Times.
^Nominations of Inez Smith Reid, Linda Kay Davis, Ronna Lee Beck, and Eric Tyson Washington: Hearing Before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Fourth Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office. May 22, 1995. ISBN 978-0-16-052439-4.
^Cloherty, Megan (March 30, 2016). "D.C. woman given unique award for service in Iraq". WTOP.
^Holmes Norton, Eleanor (July 11, 2005). "Commending District of Columbia Court of Appeals Chief Judge Annice Wagner". Congressional Record, Volume 151, Part 11. United States House of Representatives.
^"Obituaries of note: James E. Bowman, Dave Hill, Richard W. Mallary, Leonard Dillon". The Washington Post. February 28, 2011.
^"About Sterling A. Brown". poets.org. Academy of American Poets.
^Gruber, Katie (August 7, 2018). "Charting a Course". South Side Weekly.
^ a b"W. Allison Davis '24 and John A. Davis '33". The Davis Center. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
^Barnes, Bart (December 21, 2002). "John Aubrey Davis Sr". The Washington Post.
^Nilipour, Leila; Valenzuela, Mauricio Valenzuela (May 17, 2020). "El Gorgas, un laboratorio que no duerme". Retrieved November 19, 2020.
^Kelly, John (April 6, 2020). "The untimely death of his sister from the flu inspired this D.C. doctor to greatness". The Washington Post.
^"H. Naylor Fitzhugh Dies". The Washington Post. July 29, 1992.
^Lamb, Evelyn (May 1, 2014). "Happy 90th Birthday, Evelyn Boyd Granville!". Scientific American Blog Network.
^Kelly, John (March 20, 2012). "For retired botanist, cherry blossoms never lost their charm". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
^Melton, Sarah (April 28, 2017). "D.C.'s Poet Laureate Still Finds Inspiration In Her Native City". WAMU. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
^Walker, Ezekiel J. (November 9, 2022). "Even as a former florist, inventor Mary Kenner never got her flowers". The Black Wall Street Times. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
^Colbert I. King - "Dunbar High School's sad descent into hard times", The Washington Post]
^Fatsis, Stefan (December 28, 2020). "The complicated racial history of the high school D.C. is renaming". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
^Harrison, Ira E.; Harrison, Faye Venetia, eds. (1999). African-American pioneers in anthropology. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-02430-6.
^Erickson, Paul A. (February 2000). Cobb, William Montague (1904-1990), physical anthropologist and anatomist. American National Biography Online. Oxford University Press.
^Brubaker, Bill (November 2, 1989). "COURTING RAYFUL EDMOND". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
External links
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