URBAN PIONEERS

Downtown Dallas High School Celebrates 100 Years of Innovation.

BY NANCY COHEN ISRAEL

Image captions this page. Clockwise from top: Booker T. Washington High School 70th reunion. Courtesy of Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.; Portia Washington Pittman.; Playwright and Booker T. Washington High School alumnus Theodis “Ted” Shine. Courtesy of Rhonda Butte. “W e are your roots. We represent what Booker T. was. These instructors will give you your wings. All I want you to do is fly.” With these words, Booker T. Washington High School alumna Vicki Smith welcomed a recent incoming freshmen class to the school. Smith represents the Class of 1969, whose graduation marked the end of the school’s first chapter. Now, as this Dallas institution prepares to celebrate its centennial year, it does so with the motto Two Schools, One Story. On October 30, 1922, the newly built school opened its doors.

At the time it was the only high school in Dallas for Black students.

Long before there was a Dallas Arts District, it stood as a pillar in the heart of a thriving Black community. Booker T. has been blazing trails since its opening, graduating generations of students who became local and national leaders, and its illustrious past and dynamic present will be the focus of a yearlong celebration. “This will be a nod to the histories of this institution and the shoulders of the giants upon which we stand,” says Dr. Scott Rudes, the principal of what is now Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and

Visual Arts, though still known by many as Arts Magnet. Through the combined efforts of the school’s current leadership and with the enthusiastic support of active alumni, including the

Booker T. Washington Alumni Association, Washington Lincoln

Alumni Association, and a nationwide network of Arts Magnet graduates, the threads connecting both schools weave together into a rich tapestry. “People have treated this institution with such love and respect. They are proud of the legacy of Booker T.,” says Rudes.

Erykah Badu performs at EXIT 2012 Music Festival on July 14, 2012, at the Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia. Photograph by Nikola Spasenoski.; Baseball legend Ernie Banks receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a ceremony at the White House in Washington, DC, on November 20, 2013. Photograph by Rena Schild.; Norah Jones live in concert at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt Am Main, Germany, on May 26, 2012. The tour took place near the release of her album Little Broken Hearts. Photograph by Paolo Gianti.

Excellence has been at the school’s core throughout the century. The Booker T. Bulldogs, for example, boasted the most championship victories of any Black school in Texas. Ernie Banks, Baseball Hall of Famer and Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree, is among its outstanding athletic alumni.

An emphasis on the arts was also there from the start. The early music faculty included the European-trained Portia Washington Pittman, daughter of the school’s namesake. Another graduate, Theodis “Ted” Shine Jr., considered the “Dean of Black Texas Playwrights,” earned national renown writing about the Black experience. In March, the school will attain Literary Landmark designation by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in recognition of Shine’s accomplishments.

The institution also molded innovative educators, including Dr. John Leslie Patton Jr. and Dr. Herman I. Holland. Patton wrote one of the earliest curricula for teaching African American history, which he later revised with Holland. A beloved principal at the school for 30 years, Patton’s motto, “Aim High, Soar Upward,” is the ancestor of the school’s current motto, “Fly high Pegasi!”

Throughout the 1950s, the school thrived. A decade later, as federal desegregation orders dismantled schools and dispersed classmates, no students came behind the Class of 1969. In 1970, the doors were permanently locked. For the community, the loss was devastating. “You felt like you lost your family,” Smith laments. Much of the school’s history was simply erased at this time, according to alumnus Charles Wilson. “The school’s credos, mottos, mascots, and school colors disappeared when the school closed,” he says.

Rudes and his staff have worked hard to right these wrongs. In 2019, the Class of ’69 was invited to the school for the graduation ceremony that they had been denied as teenagers. “We felt like we were home,” Smith recalls. For Rudes, celebrating the school’s entire history is vitally important. As he explains, “This is the first time there will be a celebration for the totality of the school. We want to make it spectacular.”

In January, the celebration began with the launch of the Living Museum Oral History Project. “It chronicles stories of Bulldog alumni,” notes Sharon Cornell, the school’s public relations specialist. She sees it as an opportunity “to capture lesser-known but still significant accomplishments of our alumni.” Cornell herself is tied to the history of the school. She is the granddaughter of H.I. Holland as well as a graduate of Arts Magnet.

Magnet schools were a 1970s-era educational experiment, which dovetailed with desegregation. Attracting students based upon shared interests allowed schools to integrate organically. Arts

Magnet, one of the first of its kind in the country, was conceived and led by Dallas Theater Center founder, Dr. Paul Baker. Its establishment, with conservatories in dance, music, theater, and visual arts, returned life to this historic campus in 1976. It has subsequently blossomed into one of the premier arts high schools in the nation. Among its many distinguished alumni are award-winning artists such as Erykah Badu, Edie Brickell, Roy Hargrove, and Norah Jones, as well as arts leaders throughout the country. In 2008, a multimillion-dollar expansion further enhanced what it could offer its students.

An arts and culture festival planned for March will celebrate where the school is today. “It will give our students an opportunity to look at how their identity and culture presents itself in their art. We are cognizant of ways we can come together and how our differences make us stronger,” Rudes explains. As part of the festival, the campus will welcome students from area elementary and middle schools to participate in a variety of workshops while also showcasing the extraordinary talent of its current student body.

While the original mandates of each school differ, they share a number of similarities. According to Lisa Walker, executive director of the advisory board for BTWHSPVA, “There is a thread that runs through the 1922 Booker T. all the way through to 2022. There is a sense of strength, social justice, and of a maverick spirit that is a prevailing thread throughout the school,” she says, adding, “When you hear about alumni, you hear about their resiliency, courage, who they represent, and what they mean to Dallas.”

Walker is spearheading an October homecoming to coincide with the anniversary of the school’s opening. “We want everyone there to be celebrated and celebrating,” she says.

As the school shines a light on its century of innovation, creativity, and leadership, Walker suggests, “Let’s take a moment and look at this, Dallas.” P

Michelle Gibson with Booker T. dance conservatory students.; Actor Matthew Gandara, a theatre conservatory class of 2019 graduate.; From the music conservatory, Diego Parra performs in the Senior Showcase 2019. Photographs by Vonda Klimaszewski.; BTWHSPVA theatre students in Mamma Mia. Photograph by Fabian Carrillo.

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