THE PLACE:
Dunbar High School
Text from the historical marker attached to the building.
Old Dunbar High School-The striking architecture of Baltimore’s original Dunbar High School complements the school’s role in community empowerment and educational equality. Dunbar’s educators, students, and alumni worked to achieve the “equal” in the “separate but equal” doctrine that shaped Baltimore’s school system for more than half of the twentieth century.
Construction began on the Art Deco school building in 1931, providing a new junior high school for African American students in segregated Baltimore. Named after famed African American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, the school was designed by Baltimore architecture firm Taylor & Fisher. The four-story, L-shaped school features elements of Art Deco design typical of the firm’s other works, including downtown Baltimore’s Baltimore Trust Building (now the Bank of America Tower).
Dunbar Junior High School, PS 133, opened its doors in February 1932. In 1935, tenth grade was added, making the PS 133 the second African American high school in the city. Over the next four decades, the school was more than a place for learning. During the years of segregation it served as a community and recreational center serving both children and adults. From professional concerts to dances for returning servicemen, PS 133 stood as a center of pride for the Dunbar-Broadway neighborhood.
By the late 1930s, Dunbar’s enrollment greatly exceeded capacity. Outdated portable classrooms were installed in 1939, but by 1944 these temporary structures were in poor condition. The school board ignored the overcrowding and inappropriate conditions, prompting Dunbar’s teachers to take action and bring their concerns directly to Baltimore Mayor Theodore McKeldin. The assertive action by the Dunbar teachers led to a citywide renovation of the portable classroom and a new addition to the school, completed in 1950.
Dunbar provided a quality education to generations of students, and nurtured their talents through academics, sports, and the arts. The school’s history of civic engagement is reflected in the careers of many alumni: lawyers, judges, doctors, and elected officials at all levels of government. Countless graduates of Dunbar are leaders in the civic, business, and sports communities—many breaking the color barrier present in their chosen profession.
The school served as a junior and high school until 1974, when the current Dunbar High School opened at Orleans Street and North Central Avenue. PS 133 served as the Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School until 2010. Today the school is home to the National Academy Foundation High School.
(Inscription under the image in the upper right)
A relief sculpture of an owl, a traditional symbol of learning, is featured on the school’s tower. The owl is surrounded by chevrons, sunbursts, and geometric patterns typical of Art Deco styling.
Ronald Mumin Owens-Bey, Chair, Landmark Committee. The Dunbar Alumni Association, Inc., Sponsor-Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Mayor. Baltimore City Landmark, Baltimore National Heritage Area.
The marker is located on the right side of the front entrance door.
THE PERSON:
Paul Laurence Dunbar
From Wikipedia
"Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American Civil War, Dunbar began writing stories and verse when he was a child. He published his first poems at the age of 16 in a Dayton newspaper, and served as president of his high school's literary society.
Dunbar's popularity increased rapidly after his work was praised by William Dean Howells, a leading editor associated with Harper's Weekly. Dunbar became one of the first African-American writers to establish an international reputation. In addition to his poems, short stories, and novels, he also wrote the lyrics for the musical comedy In Dahomey (1903), the first all-African-American musical produced on Broadway in New York. The musical later toured in the United States and the United Kingdom. Suffering from tuberculosis, which then had no cure, Dunbar died in Dayton, Ohio, at the age of 33.
Much of Dunbar's more popular work in his lifetime was written in the "Negro dialect" associated with the antebellum South, though he also used the Midwestern regional dialect of James Whitcomb Riley. Dunbar also wrote in conventional English in other poetry and novels and is considered the first important African American sonnet writer. Since the late 20th century, scholars have become more interested in these other works."
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