John Thompson: First Class; Education at DC's Dunbar High School
Guest post by John Thompson.
Alison Stewart's new book First Class tells the powerful story of how Washington D.C.'s Dunbar High School played an inspiring role in "a national movement for justice and citizenship." Dunbar's educators made the best of the demeaning and cruel Jim Crow system. Their achievements were "stunning." Graduates of Dunbar led the legal fight against de jure segregation and pioneered world class innovations in medicine, scholarship, art and music. One eminent Dunbar graduate after another, often after earning doctorates from prestigious universities, returned to build an incredible learning institution.
First Class also tells the tragic story of the elite institution becoming collateral damage due to the ham-handed way that America's schools were desegregated, but not properly integrated, in the second half of the 20th century. Stewart then recalls the rushed 21st century school improvements imposed by Michelle Rhee on Dunbar and D.C. that, I would say, were equally inept.
After several weeks of contemplating Stewart's masterpiece, I am just now starting to wrestle with its lessons. Some conclusions are obvious. During Jim Crow, there was little alternative to the Dunbar strategy of making the best of the demeaning system of segregation and showing that blacks could meet the highest standards of white scholarship, art, and governance. Dunbar drew upon both the Booker T. Washington accommodationist approach of working within the racist system and W.E.B. DuBois' commitment to excellence.
Dunbar's stunning achievements cannot be
First Class also tells the tragic story of the elite institution becoming collateral damage due to the ham-handed way that America's schools were desegregated, but not properly integrated, in the second half of the 20th century. Stewart then recalls the rushed 21st century school improvements imposed by Michelle Rhee on Dunbar and D.C. that, I would say, were equally inept.
After several weeks of contemplating Stewart's masterpiece, I am just now starting to wrestle with its lessons. Some conclusions are obvious. During Jim Crow, there was little alternative to the Dunbar strategy of making the best of the demeaning system of segregation and showing that blacks could meet the highest standards of white scholarship, art, and governance. Dunbar drew upon both the Booker T. Washington accommodationist approach of working within the racist system and W.E.B. DuBois' commitment to excellence.
Dunbar's stunning achievements cannot be