If one is making a collection of striking contrasts between _what once
was, but now is_, he should certainly include in this list the
Preparatory High School established for Negro youth in the National
Capital, November, 1870, and the beautiful new Dunbar High School
which was dedicated January 15, 1917. It is indeed a far cry from the
basement of the Presbyterian Church in which this first Preparatory
High School was located and the magnificent brick, stone-trimmed
building of Elizabethan architecture with a frontage of 401 feet which
was recently christened the Dunbar High School in honor of the poet,
Paul Laurence Dunbar. This new school represents an outlay of more
than a half a million dollars. The ground cost the government $60,000,
the building and equipment $550,000, and it is considered one of the
most complete and beautiful institutions for Negro youth in the
country.[347] There is a faculty of 48 teachers, many of them being
graduates from the leading colleges and universities of the country,
and 1,252 pupils are enrolled, 545 boys and 707 girls.
It would have required a vivid and fertile imagination indeed for a
pupil who attended that first high school to have dreamed of an
institution so comprehensive and efficient as the high school of
to-day. In fact, the first high school for Negro youth was not a high
school at all. It was, as its name indicated, a Preparatory High
School established in 1870. It was mainly composed of pupils
completing the last two years of the grammar grades, although,
according to the school report of that year, a small number of
students were pursuing the high school course.[348] The new
institution labored under several decided disadvantages. In the first
place, the teaching force was inadequate, as there was only one
instructor for 45 pupils. Sufficient time for advanced studies was not
given and the school suffered also from the loss of pupils employed to
meet the growing demand for teachers in the lower grades.[349]
The first class would have graduated in 1875, but the demand for
teachers being so much greater than the supply, the first two classes
were drawn into the teaching corps, before they had completed the
prescribed course.[350] It was not until 1877, therefore, that the
first high school commencement was held, eleven pupils being awarded
diplomas. These were Dora F. Baker, Mary L. Beason, Fannie M. Costin,
Julia C. Grant, Fannie E. McCoy, Cornelia A. Pinckney, Carrie E.
Taylor, Mary E.M. Thomas, James C. Craig, John A. Parker, and James B.
Wright. Three members of this class are now teaching in the Washington
public schools. Of the capabilities of the pupils and conditions of
the school, Superintendent Newton in his annual report said: "The
progress which has been made in the organization and the perfecting of
an efficient school system in a brief period has probably few
parallels in any part of the country. The capabilities of the pupils
in general for acquiring knowledge have been demonstrated to be not
inferior to those of any children in the country."[351]
The first principal of the Preparatory High School was Miss Emma J.
Hutchins, a native of New Hampshire. Like many white men and women who
came from the North at that time, Miss Hutchins was fired with zeal to
do everything in her power to educate and uplift the youth of the
newly emancipated race. She served as principal of the O Street, now
the John F. Cook, School and was then placed in charge of the
Preparatory High School in 1870. After teaching here one year, Miss
Hutchins resigned to accept a position in Oswego County, New York.
There was no dissatisfaction on the part of either Miss Hutchins or of
the people whom she served, but she resigned, because, as she said,
there were among the Negroes themselves teachers thoroughly equipped
to take up the work and carry it on and she could find employment
elsewhere. From one who knew her personally comes the statement, "Miss
Hutchins' term of service in the Washington public schools was brief,
but the impress she made upon those with whom she came into contact
has remained indelibly fixed through the years that have followed.
High ideals, conscientious performance of duty under adverse
conditions and loyalty to the interest of her pupils--hers was indeed
the spirit of the true teacher."
In the third report of the Board of Trustees the Public Schools
Superintendent, George F. T. Cook, tells us: "The pupils first
transferred to this Preparatory High School, as well as those for two
or three subsequent years, had completed only the sixth year of the
seven required for the completion of the school course at that
time--hence the name Preparatory High School." But the superintendent
recommended that the transfer of small classes of pupils in the first
grade of the grammar course from the several school districts be
discontinued, and that in lieu thereof there be two central grammar
schools for the accommodation of all pupils in the last year of the
grammar course--one to be located in the Summer or Stevens building
and the other in the Lincoln building. This was intended to bring into
the high school only those pupils pursuing advanced studies. The
object of this Preparatory High School, according to Mr. Cook, was
twofold: "to economize teaching force by concentrating under one
teacher several small classes of the same grade of attainment, located
in different parts of the city, and to present to the pupils of the
schools incentives to higher aim in education. In both respects," says
he, "it has been eminently successful, perhaps more so in the latter,
since it has furnished to the teacherships of these schools and those
of the surrounding country many teachers."[352]
In the fall of 1871 Miss Mary J. Patterson succeeded Miss Hutchins as
principal of the high school, which was then located in the Stevens
building on 21st Street during that year. Miss Patterson was graduated
from Oberlin College with the degree of A.B. in 1862. So far as the
records show, she has the distinction of being the first woman, of
African blood, to receive a college education. When Miss Patterson
attended Oberlin College, she took what was called the _gentleman's
course_, which required a study of not only Latin and Greek, but the
higher mathematics as well. It doubtless received the name
_gentleman's course_, because at that time women did not as a rule
pursue such studies. It is easy to imagine what an impetus and an
inspiration such a woman would be at the head of a new school
established for the youth of a race for which high standards and lofty
ideals had to be set. She was a woman with a strong, forceful
personality, and showed tremendous power for good in establishing high
intellectual standards in the public schools. Thoroughness was one of
Miss Patterson's most striking characteristics as a teacher. She was a
quick, alert, vivacious and indefatigable worker. During Miss
Patterson's administration, which lasted altogether twelve years,
three important events occurred: the name "Preparatory High School"
was dropped; in 1877, the first high school commencement was held; and
the normal department was added with the principal of the high school
as its head.
After Miss Patterson had served one year as principal, Mr. Richard T.
Greener was appointed in 1872 to take her place. As Miss Patterson was
the first woman of color to be graduated from Oberlin College, so Mr.
Greener has the distinction of being the first man of African descent
to be thus honored by Harvard College. He received his preparatory
education in Boston, Oberlin and Cambridge, and was graduated from
Harvard in 1870. A scholar and lawyer by profession, Mr. Greener has
attracted attention by his essays and orations. He has held a number
of important positions, having served as Professor in the University
of South Carolina in the Reconstruction period, Dean of the Law School
of Howard University, Chief Civil Service Examiner for New York City,
and United States Consul at Vladivostock, Russia. After serving as
principal of the high school nearly one year, Mr. Greener left it for
fields of broader opportunity. Miss Patterson was then reappointed
principal of the Preparatory High School and held the position till
1884, when Mr. F. L. Cadozo, Sr., succeeded her.
When Mr. F.L. Cardozo, Sr., was appointed to the principalship of the
high school, the standard of scholarship required of the principals
was certainly maintained. For he had the rare distinction of being
educated at Glasgow University, Glasgow, Scotland. There he won two
scholarships of $1,000 each in Greek and Latin. He also took a course
in the London School of Theology, London, England, where he completed
the three-year course in two years. He was once pastor of the Tremont
Street Congregational Church, New Haven, Connecticut. Later he went to
Charleston, South Carolina, where he engaged in missionary work in the
employ of the American Board of Missions. Mr. Cardozo founded the
Avery Institute in Charleston, and served as its principal until he
became Treasurer of the State of South Carolina, in 1870. Under
Governor Chamberlain he was Secretary of State for two terms.[353]
At that time there were 172 pupils in the school, but by 1886 the
enrollment was 247, which was more than five times what it was when
the school was established. In 1887-88, when the enrollment was 361,
there were nine teachers, exclusive of the instructors in music and
drawing. There was an increase of two teachers in 1888-89. From 1877
to 1894 the high school course consisted of three years' work. But in
1894 the course was enriched and enlarged by the addition of several
electives and since then it has been lengthened to four years. The
commercial department was established in 1884-85 and in 1887 a
business course requiring two years of study was added. This with a
technical course also requiring two years of study laid the foundation
of the Armstrong Manual Training School. Girls were given an
opportunity of taking up domestic science and boys military
drill.[354] Referring to the school in 1889-90 Superintendent Cook
said: "This school is growing, not only in number but in a condition
to perform better and more useful work. In the practical importance of
subjects taught and in their better and increasing provision for
preparing pupils for business life there is recognition of the fact
that practical usefulness is the great end of intellectual
discipline."[355]
It was during Mr. Cardozo's administration that the high school was
moved from the Miner building to a new structure in 1891. So far back
as 1874 Mr. Cook urged the construction of a suitable building for the
high school. But it was not until 1889-90 that an appropriation
therefor was made.[356] This building, known as the M Street High
School, was erected on M Street, near the intersection of New York and
New Jersey Avenues, where the institution remained until it moved into
the Dunbar.
In 1896 Dr. W. S. Montgomery was appointed principal of the M Street
High School and held that position for three years. Dr. Montgomery was
graduated at Dartmouth College, receiving the degree of A.B. in 1879
and the degree of A.M. in 1906. He completed the Howard University
medical course in 1884. From the time Dr. Montgomery was appointed
principal of the Hillsdale School in 1875 till the present, with the
exception of two years spent in study at Dartmouth, he has served the
public school system of the District of Columbia continuously.[357] In
referring to his principalship of the M Street High School, one of his
co-laborers states that it "was marked by a period of constructive
work. He stood for high scholarship with a leaning toward the
classical high school."
Judge Robert H. Terrell succeeded Dr. Montgomery in 1899. He was the
second principal of the high school to hold a degree from Harvard
College. When a boy, he was a pupil in the public schools of the
District of Columbia and was a member of one of the early classes in
the old Preparatory High School. Mr. Terrell finished his preparation
for college at Lawrence Academy, Groton, Massachusetts and was
graduated from Harvard University in the class of 1884. In the fall of
that year he was appointed a teacher in the high school and held that
position for five years. In the fall of 1889 he was appointed chief of
a division in the United States Treasury Department, where he served
four years. In the meantime Mr. Terrell had studied law. He practiced
that profession till 1889, when he was again appointed teacher in the
high school. He was afterward promoted to the principalship. In 1902
President Roosevelt nominated him for a judgeship of one of the City
Courts of Washington and Mr. Terrell resigned the principalship to
accept this position. While serving as principal of the high school
Mr. Terrell devoted much of his time out of school to preparing his
boys for college. It is largely due to his influence that a goodly
number of its graduates have completed their education at Harvard.
Mrs. Anna J. Cooper was appointed Judge Terrell's successor and served
from 1901 till 1906. Mrs. Cooper prepared for college at the St.
Augustine Normal School. Like Miss Patterson, Mrs. Cooper was
graduated at Oberlin College, receiving the degrees A.B. in 1884 and
A.M. in 1888. With the exception of a few years Mrs. Cooper has taught
in the public schools from 1887 to the present time. She is the author
of "A Voice from the South," which received most complimentary notices
in representative newspapers and magazines. During her administration
in 1904 the course of study for the M Street High School like that of
the other academic high schools was considerably changed and greatly
enlarged.
Mr. William Tecumseh Sherman Jackson succeeded Mrs. Cooper in 1906.
He was educated at Amherst College which conferred upon him the
degrees of A.B. in 1892 and A.M. in 1897. He thereafter pursued
postgraduate studies at the Catholic University of America. Mr.
Jackson's twenty-five years of service have all been in the high
school. He was teacher of mathematics from 1892 to 1904, principal of
M Street High School from 1906 to 1909 and has been head teacher in
the Department of Business Practice from 1912 to the present time. In
commenting upon Mr. Jackson's work, one of his superior officers
declared that he "introduced the individual promotion system,
stimulated interest in athletics and fostered the school spirit."
Mr. Edward Christopher Williams succeeded Mr. Jackson as principal of
the M Street High School in 1909. He was graduated from the Central
High School in Cleveland, Ohio, holds the degree of B.L. from the
Western Reserve University, and an honor certificate from the New York
State Library School. He was Librarian of the Western Reserve
University from 1894 to 1909, and was instructor in bibliographical
subjects in the Western Reserve University Library School from 1904 to
1909. After serving seven years as principal of the M Street High
School, he resigned June, 1916, to accept a position in Howard
University as Librarian and Director of the Library School. Mr.
Williams achieved success as an administrative officer while principal
of the M Street High School.
Mr. G. C. Wilkinson, the present principal of this school, was
educated in the public schools of the District of Columbia, finishing
the course at the M Street High School in June, 1898. He was graduated
from Oberlin, with the degree of A.B. in 1902, and from the Law
Department of Howard University in 1909. In 1902 he was appointed
teacher in the M Street High School and discharged his duties in the
new field of action with enthusiasm and zeal. During these years Mr.
Wilkinson devoted much of his time after school hours to the training
and instructing of athletic teams, particularly football and baseball,
at a time when physical training for high school boys was not an
established part of the regular curriculum. This interest was not
confined to M Street High School only but extended to all secondary
schools of the vicinity and resulted in the formation of the
Inter-Scholastic Athletic Association of the Middle Atlantic States
under whose auspices track meets and basket ball were first introduced
into the capital of the nation. Thus athletic interest was extended,
until they were registered in the Amateur Athletic Union of America as
the first and at present the only football officials of color in
America. Mr. Wilkinson was equally active in assisting the military
organization of the high school. In November, 1912, Mr. Wilkinson was
promoted to the principalship of the Armstrong Manual Training School
and transferred to the principalship of the Dunbar High School, July
15, 1916.
It is safe to assert that at the head of no school in the United
States have there been teachers who have availed themselves of better
educational advantages than have the principals of the high school for
the education of Negroes in the District of Columbia. In looking over
the list one observes that of the ten principals, who have guided and
molded the school, two held degrees from Harvard University, three
from Oberlin College, one from Dartmouth, one from Amherst, one from
Western Reserve University, and one was educated in the University of
Glasgow in Scotland.
But, however well-trained and strong the principal of a school may be,
it is impossible for him to accomplish as much as he might, if his
teachers also are not efficient and conscientious in the discharge of
their duties. In this respect this high school has been greatly
blessed, for the teachers have, as a rule, not only enjoyed superior
educational advantages, but have faithfully discharged their duties.
Although it is impossible in this article to mention by name all the
teachers who have done so much to raise the standard of the high
school to the enviable position it occupies to-day, no sketch, however
short, could do the subject justice without reference to a few of the
instructors who have been in the school almost from its establishment
to the present time. Among these none have rendered more valuable
service than the late Miss Laura Barney, for many years a teacher of
history and an assistant principal, Miss Carolina E. Parke, teacher of
algebra, Miss Harriet Riggs, head of the English Department, Mr. Hugh
M. Browne, instructor in physics, and Mr. T. W. Hunster, the organizer
and director of the Drawing Department.
It would be difficult to name a high school, the graduates or former
pupils of which have achieved success in such numbers and of such
brilliancy as have those trained in the high school for Negroes in the
District of Columbia. If one investigates the antecedents of some of
the young Negroes who have made the most brilliant records at the best
universities in the country, he will discover that a large number of
them were trained in this high school. Miss Cora Jackson by
competitive examination won a scholarship at the University of
Chicago. Phi Beta Kappa keys have been won by R. C. Bruce at Harvard,
Ellis Rivers at Yale, Clyde McDuffie and Rayford Logan at Williams,
Charles Houston and John R. Pinkett at Amherst, Adelaide Cooke at
Cornell, and Herman Drear at Bowdoin.
In scanning the list of the men and women whose foundation of
education and usefulness was laid in this institution, one is
surprised to see the wide range of positions they so creditably fill.
In almost every trade and profession open to the colored American,
from a janitorship to a judgeship, it is possible to find a man or a
woman who has either completed or only partially completed the course
of this high school. Mr. R. C. Bruce, a graduate of Harvard College,
now assistant superintendent of colored public schools; Miss Nannie
Burroughs, the founder and president of the National Training School
for Women; Mr. Frederick Morton, principal of the Manassas Industrial
School; Miss Marian Shadd, Mr. John C. Nalle, Major James E. Walker,
supervising principals in the District of Columbia; Dr. John Smith,
the statistician of the Board of Education; Miss Emma G. Merritt,
director of primary instruction; Mr. Charles M. Thomas, a successful
instructor in the Miner Normal School; 36 out of the 47 principals of
buildings and a large corps of efficient teachers of Washington, have
all either been graduated from or pursued courses in this high school.
The first Negro who ever won the distinction of being commencement
orator at Harvard College was Robert H. Terrell, who studied in the
Preparatory High School shortly after it was established and who is
now one of five justices in the Municipal Court of the District of
Columbia, having been first appointed by President Roosevelt and then
reappointed by Presidents Taft and Wilson. The first Negro who was
ever elected class orator at Harvard University was Clement G. Morgan,
another graduate of this high school. He was formerly a member of the
Board of Aldermen in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is at present a
lawyer of good repute.
The young man who won the Pasteur prize at Harvard University, who was
twice chosen one of the three to represent Harvard in her debate,
first with Princeton and then with Yale, the young man, who, in
addition to all this honor, was finally elected class orator, was
Roscoe Conklin Bruce, a former student of the same high school. A
distinguished representative in the legal profession is Hugh C.
Francis, who completed the four-year course in Harvard University in
three years, then was graduated from the Harvard Law School with honor
and is now practicing his profession in Porto Rico. Other
representatives of the law are Albertus Brown, who served as a judge
in Toledo, Ohio, for two days by appointment of the mayor, and
Ferdinand Morton, Assistant District Attorney of New York City.
The record made by some of the high school graduates in the Army and
Navy of this country has been very creditable indeed. When Dewey
electrified the world on an eventful day in May some years ago, one of
the seamen who aimed a gun straight and made it bark loud was a
certain colored youth named John Jordan, who had studied in this same
high school. It is even said by those in a position to know that he
opened the battle of Manila. It is certain, however, that he was
placed in charge of a crew of gunners in a forward turret, and that he
was afterward promoted to the position of chief gunner's mate. For a
time he was in Annapolis instructing classes in ordnance, the members
of which were, of course, practically all white. Just a short time ago
he was retired. Frank Stewart, another graduate of this school, served
with distinction as a captain of the volunteer army during the
Philippine campaign and was later made _presidente_ of a town where he
rendered further services with credit to himself and his country.
A few years ago Joseph Cook, another representative of this high
school, taught classes in electricity in the training station at
Newport. Cook ran a dynamo, an extremely complicated affair, on
Admiral Sampson's ship during the Spanish-American war. For some
reason he was assigned to other duty on the ship, was taken from the
dynamo and a white man was put in his place. But the latter was unable
to master the intricacies of the machine and was soon given other work
to do.
Oliver Davis is another alumnus of this school. He is now a captain in
the United States Army, being the first colored man from the ranks who
passed an examination for a commission in the army. Three of the
finest lieutenants in the Spanish-American War, Thomas Clarke, Harry
Burgess and William Cardozo, were all trained at this institution.
Under command of Major James E. Walker, another product of this
school, the First Separate Battalion was the first organization to
leave the District of Columbia for the Mexican border last summer,
because this, the only colored unit in the District National Guard,
was the first to be ready for such military service. Eleven of its
officers are graduates of this high school. This battalion had the
distinction of being generally lauded for the valuable services it
rendered the country during the late unpleasantness with Mexico.[358]
Among others who have distinguished themselves in military affairs
are Eldridge Hawkins, Ex-Secretary of the American Legation at Liberia
and for several years captain of the Liberian Constabulary. Joseph
Martin also served as a lieutenant in Liberia.[359]
Graduates of this school have succeeded in all the walks of life. In
music Captain Walter H. Loving is a distinguished representative
indeed. He is the founder and director of the far-famed Philippine
band, conceded by foremost musicians of the day to be one of the
finest organizations of its kind in the whole world. This band has
made extensive tours and has scored phenomenal success everywhere it
has played. The credit due Captain Loving, who has now retired, is all
the greater, when one considers, that when he commenced this work, a
large proportion of the men not only knew little or nothing about
music but nothing at all about the instruments they now play with such
artistic skill. James Reese Europe is a composer of distinction and
the leader of an orchestra which is constantly in demand among the
most cultured and the wealthiest people of New York. Among these high
school graduates there is at least one theatrical manager, in the
person of Andrew Thomas, who has directed the affairs of the Howard
Theatre with much success. Miss Mary P. Burrill and Mr. Nathaniel Guy,
dramatic readers and trainers, deserve special mention for the service
they have rendered the Washington schools and the community in their
particular field.
Dr. Charles I. West, formerly assistant surgeon-in-chief of Freedman's
Hospital, distinguished himself in a competitive medical examination
held a few years ago, and is to-day one of the foremost physicians in
Washington. Some of the wealthiest and most skillful physicians in the
national capital, among whom may be mentioned Dr. John R. Francis,
lately deceased, and Dr. Thomas Martin, received their scholastic
training in this high school. There are other products of this school
achieving success, both here and elsewhere, in the professions of
medicine and dentistry.
It is very clear that this high school has given a wonderful
intellectual impetus to the youth of Washington, many of whom would
have been unable to get even a sip at the fountain of knowledge, if
they could not have quenched their thirst without money and without
price. Without the knowledge acquired in the high school it would have
been impossible for many teachers to occupy the positions of
usefulness, honor and emolument which they now hold. This high school
too has been a great blessing, not only to those representatives of
the race who live under the shadow of the capitol, but to many
elsewhere. There is no doubt that a majority of the pupils trained in
this school have reflected great credit upon their alma mater by doing
their work in the world conscientiously and well. And here in
Washington, if you meet a skillful physician, an excellent teacher, an
expert typewriter or stenographer, a faithful, efficient letter
carrier, a distinguished officer in the national guard, or a good
citizen on general principles, you are likely to find a graduate of
this high school or somebody who has studied there.