100 years of Dallas’ storied Booker T. Washington High School

DALLAS — In the center of the the Dallas Arts District, you may discover a century previous purple brick constructing.

The constructing was as soon as residence to the unique Booker T. Washington Bulldogs.

Now, graduates of that historic faculty are sharing treasured tales of their time spent right here, celebrating each the varsity’s centennial and its distinctive historical past inside the City of Dallas.

“Being a graduate of this high school meant the world,” stated Charles “Chuck” Wilson, (*100*) of 1965.”It was a family.”

When the varsity opened in 1922, it was the one public highschool for Black college students within the City of Dallas.

“Well, everybody was bused in,” defined A. Shaw-Smith, (*100*) of 1966.

For a long time, college students traveled to Booker T. Washington High School from communities all throughout town. They got here from neighborhoods reminiscent of Queen City, Wheatley Place, West Dallas, The Bottoms in Oak Cliff, Hamilton Park and extra.

But some alumni will inform you segregation wasn’t prime of thoughts for a lot of of the kids who roamed these hallways again then.

“It was a way of life,” stated Fred Walker, (*100*) of 1960. “It’s something that you accepted. You were taught. You understood. You accepted.”

Accepting that system of segregated training meant the Bulldogs couldn’t compete in opposition to every other faculties within the metropolis in athletics. Sports, nevertheless, did enable some college students to depart city for competitions.

“We would travel to Fort Worth,” Wilson remembered. “We would travel to Waco. We would travel to Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Beaumont.”

Many of these Bulldogs thought of Booker T. Washington High School a secure haven. They described it as a spot the place they discovered life and technical expertise — particularly as soon as when trades programs like metallic store and cosmetology had been added to the curriculum in 1952.

“Hey, I even got my hair done for 25 cents,” Shaw-Smith stated laughed. “So, don’t knock the cosmetology!”

The faculty helped groom many Black educators, healthcare staff, entrepreneurs, group leaders and philanthropists.

“We were strong,” stated Janice Mason-Titus, (*100*) of 1966. “We were tough. We were great.”

In 1976, although, the trajectory of this campus modified. A desegregation order led to Booker T. Washington High School transitioning into Dallas ISD’s arts magnet. It was later renamed the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

The highschool’s new mascot? A Pegasus. 

These days, the varsity stands among the many most prestigious coaching grounds within the nation for younger artists.

And the pleasure for this faculty stays sturdy as ever.

Alumnus and sculptor Emmanuel Gillespie created a statue of one other Booker T. Washington graduate, the legendary Chicago Clubs participant Ernie Banks, that now sits on the garden outdoors the unique faculty constructing.

“A lot of people paved the way for us to have this school today,” defined Gillespie, (*100*) of 1985. “And I think that’s very important — that we always know our history, and give thanks for people who came before us and allowed us to be here today.”

The highschool has groomed a listing of famous artists. Among them are musicians Erykah Badu, Roy Hargrove, Norah Jones and different acclaimed actors and dancers who will be seen acting on screens and phases throughout the globe.

“It means a place of freedom,” defined composer, producer and musician Shaun Martin, (*100*) of 1996, who simply took residence a Grammy this previous weekend for his work with the Dallas-sprung jazz collective Snarky Puppy. “[It’s] a place of creativity. A place of inspiration, hope.”

No matter the period, college students previous and current describe Booker T. Washington High School as a basis and a fixture for generations of college students.

“For me, it really was a place for me to grow,” stated Kennedy Eagleton, (*100*) of 2023.

Booker T. Washington High School stays an historic place that’s inspired college students to soar — simply because it has for a century now.

In October 2022, graduates from each eras of Booker T. Washington High School returned to campus for an official Centennial Celebration. But the connection that the merchandise of a Booker T. Washington training have with their alma mater final far past one-off commemorations — even ones that honor milestones as spectacular as 100 years of molding younger minds.

Many alumni from the Booker T. Washington Bulldogs set are nonetheless lively members of The Washington-Lincoln Alumni Association — a bunch contains college students from graduating lessons courting again to 1939. That Association boasts greater than 300 members in chapters throughout the nation. It was the group that pushed to make Booker T. Washington High School declared an Historical Landmark in 1989.

The hope with that effort, as ever, was to ensure individuals bear in mind the nice {that a} faculty as vital and cherished as this one can deliver a group like Dallas.

“Don’t forget about this school,” Martin stated. “Don’t forget about these kids. Don’t forget about this program.”