February 2024 – Page 2 – Truxton Is In Shaw

Black History Month 2024: First Class- Ch. 8 Coming of Age

This year for Black History Month we’ll review chapter by chapter Alison Stewart’s First Class: The Legacy of Dunbar, America’s First Black Public High School. This is more Truxton Circle related then this blog’s previous annual looks at Shaw resident and founder of Negro History Week (later Black history month) Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s Mis-Education of the Negro. As Dunbar High School is located in Truxton Circle currently taking up all of Square 554.

This chapter focuses on the Class of 1946 and their stories. From these individuals’ stories we can see how much Dunbar meant to them and what a unique institution it was. We can gather this group was still alive to extract this history from when the author was gathering material.

The story of Vashti Atkins, who was the Editor in Chief of the Dunbar yearbook, was less than romantic. In her sophomore year she got TB and at that time had to go to a special hospital where she stayed for a little over 3 years. But while in the hospital she was roomed with another Dunbar student, Vivian Stark and they formed a life long friendship. When she returned to Dunbar, she was a legal adult.

The next story was that of Joe Stewart was was from New York City. Dunbar must have been something special as it seemed to attract students beyond the District of Columbia’s borders. His parents were concerned about his academic future. His father graduated from M Street, so his parents decided to send him to live with grandparents in DC to attend Dunbar. Stewart recalled an instance when he and a fellow student Leon Ransom were collecting signatures to protest Safeway’s lack of Black cashiers and the police were called. Leon “Andy” Ransom was the son of NAACP lawyer Leon A. Ransom, and upon recognition of the name the police left the boys alone. The chapter also tells Carol Graham’s story and we learn later that Carol and Joe Stewart married and their lives after Dunbar.

Black History Month 2024: First Class- Ch. 7 Chromatics

Oh this will be quick. There was a rumor about Dunbar that darker skinned students were not allowed there. It was wrong. Students of various shades and economic backgrounds attended.

Black History Month 2024: First Class- Ch. 6 Old School

The sixth chapter gets into the culture of Dunbar High and the teachers’ and administrators’ efforts to form future Black leaders. Not only did they have high academic standards, they also enforced high standards regarding appearance, hygiene and other mannerisms. It had elements of a finishing school when looking at the rules regarding how students were to conduct themselves.

Not everyone likes high standards and later we’ll see it manifest itself in hatred towards Dunbar by those within the DC Black community. But immediately, Dunbar started to lose students and the standards was one of the reasons cited. There are three reasons mentioned by the author: failing out; transfer to the technical high schools such as Armstrong; needing to work. The Great Migration, where US African Americans began moving out of the South to other parts of the country was just starting. Students from previously poorly run Southern country schools were probably ill prepared for the rigors at Dunbar.

Right or wrong, the faculty felt the way to preserve Dunbar was ti keep the academic bar astronomically high. The school was not a democracy but a meritocracy or a dictatorship, with academic expectation as the undeniable, unchallenged boss.

Being a Dunbar student was a way of life. The strong program was a given and was the reason why students went to Dunbar. And would excel, period. The school adopted a crest and a Latin motto, Adveris Major, Par Secundis (Greater Adversity, Equal in Prosperity).

In the handbook students were instructed in how to behave in public and on and off campus. Young ladies were cautioned by the assistant principal Miss Julia Evangeline Brooks to not powder their faces in school other than the dressing or locker rooms. She also dictated the kinds of fabrics girls should have, favoring gingham and washable fabrics over silks and chiffon.

The author also notes Booker T. Washington’s, “The Gospel of the Toothbrush.” Teaching and enforcing good hygiene was another Dunbar value. The author wrote, “Cleanliness was the American way or the upper and middle classes, and striving Negroes knew appearing immaculate was the key to their acceptance and future prosperity.” The rules and enforcement regarding hygiene and cleanliness was not equal for the sexes. Boys were encouraged to bathe daily, brush teeth more often and be neat in appearance. It seemed no one was telling them what fabrics they should and shouldn’t wear.

The punishment for failing to adhere to the rules was to go to the assistant principal’s office. Those who continued failure to maintain standards would have to reregister to return to the school.

It may seem harsh, but you can’t argue with results. The first class to go through all 4 years, the Class of 1920 included Wm. Mercer Cook and William Allison Davis. An ambassador and an anthropologist.

Black History Month 2024: First Class- Ch. 5 Bricks & Mortarboards

In this chapter we move from the M Street School because it was overcrowded and finally get the original Dunbar High School building in Truxton Circle. For those of you unfamiliar with the history of the school, the current Dunbar High building is version 3.0. The second version was a tall prison like building that was ugly as sin and needed to be torn down.

M Street, a Black DC high school, did not have the facilities that the White high schools had, such as a cafeteria or a gym. Of course there was a lot of drama and politicking to get the new Black high school built. There was an idea to build it on the Howard campus.

There is a section in the chapter about Paul Laurence Dunbar, for whom Dunbar High School is named. He was a Dayton, OH resident and friend of the Wright Brothers. He was known in Dayton for being an elevator poet, hawking his published poems to his riders. It appears he was a victim of audience capture, where the larger White audience liked his Black sounding poems, pigeonholing him as a Black poet for Black poems, as opposed to just being an American poet. He died before the school was built in 1906 at the age of 33.

Finally, on 1st Street NW, between O and N Streets NW, on October 2, 1916 Dunbar High opened to serve 1,117 students. It was a vast improvement over the M Street building. It had a cafeteria, and a gym, and a library, chemistry labs, and a rifle range. Probably the only time guns at school was a good thing, supervised by responsible adults.

Black History Month 2024: First Class- Ch. 4 It’s the Principal

Like some of the previous it is about the things before Dunbar High School on Square 554 in Truxton Circle. Instead a lot of this chapter is about some political drama regarding the principal of the M Street School, Anna Julia Cooper, on the other side of New York Ave NW.

This chapter provides a lot of valuable background information. It recalls the life of Anna J. Cooper and the Terrells, who were also at M Street. However, nothing about the school’s move to Truxton. So I’m skipping this one as well.

Memory Lane: Snowy City Scenes February 12, 2006

I’m looking into my collection of photographs and going down memory lane.

I took these photos eighteen years ago. The snow just fell and it was pretty. Pretty until you have to go to work and it gets packed into ice on the sidewalk.

Taken 2/12/2006. 1500 blk of New Jersey Ave NW,

Black History Month 2024: First Class- Ch. 3 The Law Giveth And The Law Taketh Away

Like the last chapter we’re still in the 19th century and not in Truxton Circle.

This chapter covers African American education in Washington, DC in the late 1800s. The president of the Board of Trustees of Colored Schools of Washington and Georgetown in Washington, D.C. was William Syphax. He along with others managed to grow the number of schools for Black students in the District of Columbia from one to 75 by 1872. The board had the support of Senator Charles Sumner, for whom the Charles Sumner School and Museum is named.

Syphax, other Black elites, and other supporters, established in 1870 the Preparatory High School for Colored Youth at the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church. As the school grew it moved around a bit before settling at 128 M Street NW to become the M Street High School, where the Perry School sits, sort of across the street from Truxton Circle. It operated as a college prep high school from 1982 to about 1916 when it moved into Truxton Circle.

There’s a fair amount of politicking mentioned in this chapter. It doesn’t relate to Truxton Circle, so I’m skipping that part.

Black History Month 2024: First Class- Ch. 2 Teaching to Teach

Okay I’ll make this quick. This starts in the mid 19th century and is about Myrtilla Miner, founder of the Normal School for Colored Girls, then after her death, called the Institution for the Education of Colored Youth, then the Miner Normal School, then the Miner Teacher College.

Since this has nothing to do with Truxton Circle, I’m skipping this chapter.

1920 to 1930- White to Black- 1741 New Jersey Avenue

1700 Block NJ Ave NW, 1930. Brown= AfAm residents; White= No data

In this series of looking at the odd numbered side of the 1700 block of New Jersey Ave NW from 1920 to 1930, I decided to look at the other end of the block. The change from 1920 to 1930 for most of the block was from white renters to black home owners. However, in the case of 1741 New Jersey Ave NW, which no longer exists as a house, but part of the parking of a corner gas station, there was no Black resident recorded for the 1930 census.

But then again, the 1930 census had some house number errors, so maybe there was someone there.

The Renters- The Sussans

First we’ll look at the white renters who lived at 1741 NJ Ave NW in 1920. Look back to 1910, see where they were or learn more about them. Then where they were in 1930. The reason why they vacated is simple, their homes were sold to M. Harvey Chiswell, who then sold the row of homes to African American buyers. They didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

In the 1920 census, the recorded tenants were the Sussan family. It was headed by a 41 year old baker Charles Sussan, and his wife Lillian. They lived with their three children Charles Jr. (18 yo) (1901-1968); Emily (16); Frank (7)(1912-1987) and Charles’ sister Elizabeth (58 y.o.). Ten years prior the family was living at 612 L St with Charles Sr. working as a baker and Lillian as a dressmaker. They lived with their sons and Lillian’s mother Willey Burgess (1858-1933).

After they left New Jersey Ave the family had moved to Arlington, VA by the 1930 census. Charles Sr. had remained a baker, and lived in the home he owned with his wife and their two sons. Daughter Emily Elizabeth had married and was living with her in-laws at 3110 Connecticut Ave NW. That year Emily would give birth to daughter Hazel Louise Macwilliams (later Brown).

The Owners- The McCalisters

From previous work, we discovered the row of homes on the 1700 odd numbered block of NJ Ave NW were purchased, repaired for sale to African American home owners in Fall and Winter of 1920. 1741 New Jersey Ave NW doesn’t exist, but we can find lot # 30 on a Baist map from the time period.

The first document is a 1923 trust (loan doc) between Mr. and Mrs. James I.(1872–1952) and Lulu (nee Phifer) McCalister and trustees Jesse H. Mitchell and William H. Cowan for $151.89. A November 1923 release document between the Mitchells and W. Wallace Chiswell and Harry A. Kite points to a September 30, 1920 loan. M. (Mary) Harvey Chiswell and W. Wallace Chiswell were part of the operation to sell specifically to African Americans.

1923 was a very busy year as it was also the year James and Samuel McCalister sold 1741 to James M. Woodward, who a few months later sold it to A. Lynn McDowell. In 1925, A. Lynn McDowell, his wife Elizabeth C. and a Julian N. McDowell sold the house to John G. Walker. A little less than a month later Walker sold the property to Mary Hummel. Sometime between 1928 and 1932 the ownership changed to where Conners & Fosters Inc took control of it.

So who were these people? The McCalisters were an African American couple who in 1924 lived at 1509 5th St NW. Prior to that for the 1920 census they were renting 345 Elm St NW. I think that was in LeDroit Park. Mr. McCalister was recorded as a laborer working for the Government Printing Office. I was able to confirm his federal employment by searching the 1919 Official Register of the United States (p.811) to find he was paid 35 cents an hour. In 1930 the McCalisters lived separately. Lulu lived at 946 T St NW, supporting herself as a chiropractor. James was not located for that year. But for 1940 he was a resident at the US Soldier’s Home and Lulu can’t be found. They were back together for the 1950 census living on H St with a lodger. James died in 1952 and is buried at Arlington Cemetery.

Black History Month 2024: First Class- Ch. 1 It Is What It Is

The Introduction hinted at the Dunbar High School (DHS) band, chapter one goes into more detail.

It starts in 2004 when music educator Rodney Chambers discovered DHS didn’t have a band director and managed to get a paid job at the school. From there he discovered all sorts of problems that most inner city Black schools experienced. DHS’ grand past had little relationship to its present. Despite that, he managed to grow and improve the band program.

The path to the 2009 Obama inauguration was long. DHS was one of over a thousand applications. Chambers did not advertise that he’d applied for the chance for his band to march. On the day of the parade there were problems. Some kids went missing.

At this point I will take a break from the book to remember the day before. The band was practicing all over the neighborhood. It was a real treat to see the band marching down my street. I took pictures.

Okay, back to the book.

After the inaugural parade there were comments on a Youtube video as well as other negative feedback regarding their performance. The dance team was a little too spicy.

The point of the first chapter was to show where the school was in the late aughts. The next chapter goes back in time to the beginning, where academics were key and excellence was something to be achieved.