The building that first housed Paul Laurence Dunbar High School is finally getting the recognition it deserves—nearly a century after being created solely to serve Black students.
As an East Baltimore institution, it has been a key stop on the academic path for generations of African American families.
Now, it is a historic landmark, although the designation came with little pomp and no circumstance.
For Ronald Owens-Bey, 1963 Dunbar graduate and member of the Dunbar Alumni Association, Inc.- original requestors of the historic landmark designation, recognition of the building is a bittersweet moment that comes very late.
“I am pleased with the long overdue recognition the Old Dunbar High School has received,” Owens-Bey told the AFRO. “I had no idea that it would be as great of a struggle, but we accomplished the goal we set out to get.”
Efforts to add the Old Dunbar High School building to the local historic registry began in September 2009 when former Mayor Sheila Dixon recognized Owens-Bey’s request in writing and notified the appropriate officials.
Owens-Bey then received letters of acknowledgement from Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Andres A. Alonso and Kathleen G. Kotarba, executive director of the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP), but the initiative still sat on hold until November 2011.
“If you lived in East Baltimore you went to Dunbar,” said Edwin A. Johnson, president of Dunbar Alumni Association, Inc.”We’ve always said ‘we bleed maroon and gold,” said Johnson, who’s entire family attended Dunbar.
The school was named in honor of the prolific poet, novelist, and journalist from Dayton, Ohio who was born to slave parents on June 27, 1872. The writer broke the literary color line during the late 1800s, achieving national success with works written in Black dialect.
Notable alumni of the institution include Reginald F. Lewis, lawyer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, and Hattie N. Harrison, the first African-American woman to serve as chairwoman for a Maryland legislative committee.
“Some of the best people in society have come from there, major contributors to the world- not just Baltimore City or Maryland- but the world,” said Abdul Rahiem Rachman, 52 years after his graduation day from the old Dunbar High.
At age 70, Rachman seems experience a wave of rejuvenation in talking about his years spent in the halls of his high school alma mater. “We had civics classes where we read the paper everyday and went over things that happened locally, nationally, and internationally. We had hygiene class, sewing for the sisters, and teachers who cared and were dedicated so we learned,” said Rachman (formerly known as Clifford V. Owens), who graduated in 1960, ahead of brothers Ronald Owens-Bey and Gregory Owens.
“It was a great time. These memories linger in my mind, they stabilize me, and I’m duty-bound to represent my school,” he said.
Aside from being the common ground of greatness for many Baltimore legends, the school also garnered much attention for its’ impressive athletic record.
According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, the Dunbar Poets didn’t lose a single game for two consecutive basketball seasons, ending their 60 game win streak in 1983. Between 1956 and 1988 the school dominated courts at home and away, bringing 17 championships back to East Baltimore.
The Tommy Polley Foundation Film School at Dunbar was created by film producer and alumnus, Tommy Polley, also an National Football League (NFL) linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens and St. Louis Rams. The film school is housed at 1400 Orleans St. inside the current site of Dunbar High School. Today, the Old Dunbar building is still in use as an educational facility by the National Academy Foundation (NAF), a magnet school with specialties in areas such as engineering and finance.
The naming became official late last month, 30 days after Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake signed the bill into law on April 27.
Built in 1931 at 540 Caroline St., the Old Dunbar High School was a new first-rate segregated facility- worlds away from the 1916 building where the school began only serving elementary grades. Dunbar evolved into a junior high school and opened its new doors to students in 1932, later becoming a full high school. The first diploma from the new high school was awarded in 1940.
