3/9/2021
St. Louis' Sumner High Facing Possible Closure; Tina Turner, Others Attended
Breaking Newstags: African American history, St. Louis, School Desegregation
Alumni of the oldest high school for African Americans west of the Mississippi River are again fighting for the school's survival, extolling its symbolism and importance, and fueled by a deep pride in its history.
On a recent Sunday afternoon, a few dozen alumni gathered at the base of the steps to Sumner High School, on St. Louis' north side, clad in the school's maroon and white. Many had their class year bedazzled on sweatshirts and letterman jackets.
"It's just a big part of my life," says Eugenia Davis, who graduated from Sumner 50 years ago this spring, and organized the rally. "And it's where I began to learn who I was."
The school opened in 1875 as the first high school in St. Louis, and the Western U.S., to give diplomas to Black students. Its famous alumni include rockers such as Tina Turner and Chuck Berry, and comedian Dick Gregory. Several Tuskegee Airman, the World War II pilots, also attended the school.
"That is one of the reasons why we cannot let it be closed, simply because when you erase that history, you're not only erasing Black St. Louis history, but you're erasing American history," says Pierre Blaine, a 1973 graduate.
But Sumner's enrollment has plummeted. Urban flight has left the surrounding Ville neighborhood largely empty.
St. Louis Public Schools listed Sumner for closure over the winter along with a dozen other school buildings as part of a district-wide consolidation plan. The city school district can't be relied on to save city neighborhoods suffering from disinvestment, says Superintendent Kelvin Adams.
comments powered by Disqus
News
- The Debt Ceiling Law is now a Tool of Partisan Political Power; Abolish It
- Amitai Etzioni, Theorist of Communitarianism, Dies at 94
- Kagan, Sotomayor Join SCOTUS Cons in Sticking it to Unions
- New Evidence: Rehnquist Pretty Much OK with Plessy v. Ferguson
- Ohio Unions Link Academic Freedom and the Freedom to Strike
- First Round of Obama Administration Oral Histories Focus on Political Fault Lines and Policy Tradeoffs
- The Tulsa Race Massacre was an Attack on Black People; Rebuilding Policies were an Attack on Black Wealth
- British Universities are Researching Ties to Slavery. Conservative Alumni Say "Enough"
- Martha Hodes Reconstructs Her Memory of a 1970 Hijacking
- Jeremi Suri: Texas Higher Ed Conflict "Doesn't Have to Be This Way"
Trending Now
- New transcript of Ayn Rand at West Point in 1974 shows she claimed “savage" Indians had no right to live here just because they were born here
- The Mexican War Suggests Ukraine May End Up Conceding Crimea. World War I Suggests the Price May Be Tragic if it Doesn't
- The Vietnam War Crimes You Never Heard Of