Dunbar School (Phoenix, Arizona)

Dunbar Elementary School (Also known as Dunbar School) is an elementary school in Phoenix, Arizona that was once segregated.

Dunbar Elementary School
Location
707 W. Grant St., Phoenix, Arizona
Information
Other nameDunbar School
Paul Dunbar Lawrence School[1]
Paul Lawrence Dunbar School[2]
School districtPhoenix Elementary School District
NCES District ID0406300[3]
NCES School ID040630000520[1]
PrincipalGina Millsaps
GradesPK-8[1]
Dunbar School
Location707 W. Grant St., Phoenix, Arizona
Coordinates
Built1925 (1925)
ArchitectFitzhugh & Byron
Architectural styleSecond Renaissance Revival[4]
NRHP reference No.93000740
Added to NRHPAugust 12, 1993

History

Dunbar School was one of the first elementary school built by Phoenix Elementary School District specifically for African-American students.[4] It is named after poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar.[2][5]

While officials with the Dunbar School has labeled the school as a "historically Black school" during the era of segregation,[5] contemporary sources have described the school as a segregated school during the era.[2][6] At the time, segregation was optional for high schools in Arizona, but mandatory for elementary schools.[7] The school, along with Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, were the three segregated elementary schools in Phoenix.[6]

By 1925, the school outgrew its two classrooms, and parents of those who attended the school depaded a new school, resulting in the construction of a one-story brick building.[2] The school's construction was funded with monies from a $650,000 bond issue that passed in 1924.[4]

Now, the school, like all schools in the United States following the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling, is operated as an integrated institution.

The school was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1993,[4] and was added to the City of Phoenix's Historic Property Register in 2005.[8]

Student population

In the 2014-2015 school year, the school had a student population of 304, with an overwhelming majority of the students either classified as "Hispanics"[9] or African Americans.[1]

References
  1. "Search for Public Schools - Paul Dunbar Lawrence School (040630000520)". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  2. Creno, Cathryn (1 July 2014). "17 historic schools in metro Phoenix". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  3. "Search for Public School Districts – District Detail for Phoenix Elementary District". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  4. "National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet for Dunbar School". National Register of Historic Places. 1993. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  5. "Black History Month at Dunbar School". Dunbar Elementary School. Phoenix Elementary School District. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  6. "Staff Report: Z-72-16-8" (PDF). City of Phoenix. 10 November 2016. p. 3. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  7. Finn, Elizabeth (July 1998). "The Struggle for Civil Rights in Arizona". State Bar of Arizona. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2018. At mid-century, state law mandated segregation in the elementary schools but made it optional in the high schools.
  8. "Phoenix Historic Property Register" (PDF). City of Phoenix. May 2017. p. 4. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  9. See Hispanic–Latino naming dispute for details of an ongoing dispute on the naming of US inhabitants who are of Latin American or Spanish origin.
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