Frederick Douglass Senior High School (Baltimore, Maryland)

Infobox Education in the United States
name= Frederick Douglass Senior High School


imagesize= 180px
motto=
motto_translation=
streetaddress= 2301 Gwynns Falls Parkway
city= Baltimore
state= Maryland
district= Baltimore City Public School System
zipcode= 21217
areacode=
phone= 410.396.7822
fax= 410-523-7557
email=
url=
schoolnumber= 450
schoolboard=
affiliation=
superintendent= Dr. Andres Alonso (CEO)
trustee=
principal= Clark Montgomery
viceprincipals= Beverly perkins/ Wanda Stanton/ Carloyn Dunn
administrator=
schooltype= Public
grades= 9-12
language= English
area= Urban
mascot= Duck
teamname= Mighty Ducks
colors= Orange █ and
navy Blue █|
founded= 1883
enrollment=
enrollment_as_of= 2006

Frederick Douglass Senior High School known locally as Douglass is a public high school located in Baltimore, Maryland, US. Established in 1883 as the Colored High and Training School, Douglass is the second oldest historically African American public high school in the United States, predated by Dunbar High School in Washington D.C. [cite web|url=http://www.examiner.com/a-1453654~Film_shows_Baltimore_school_struggling_despite_No_Child_law.html|title=Film shows Baltimore school stuggling despite No Child Law |last=Nuckols|first=Ben|publisher=Baltimore Examiner|accessdate=2008-06-27] Prior to desegregation Douglass and Baltimore's Paul Laurence Dunbar High School were the only two high schools in Baltimore that admitted African American students. Douglass served African American students from west Baltimore, while Dunbar served students from east Baltimore. Among Douglass' most notable alums is Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. [cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/22/AR2008062202263.html|title=The ABCs of Failure|last=Wiltz|first=Teresa|publisher=The Washington Post |accessdate=2008-06-27] A graduate of the class of 1926, in 1954 Marshall successfully challenged school segregation as a lawyer in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, in which the Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal in public education was unconstitutional because it could never truly be equal. Ironically, the school remains overwhelmingly majority African American and Douglass is one of the eleven lowest performing schools in the state of Maryland. [cite web|url=http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/education/blog/2008/06/a_realistic_portrait_of_freder.html|title=A Realistic Portrait of Frederick Douglass High |last=Neufield|first=Sara|publisher=Baltimore Sun|accessdate=2008-06-27]

History

Named the "Colored High and Training School," Douglass was founded in 1883 and was the only high school for African Americans in the City of Baltimore until Dunbar opened its doors in 1937. On June 22, 1894, Frederick Douglass gave a commencement address at the school in which he said:

"The colored people of this country have, I think, made a great mistake, of late, in saying so much of race and color as a basis of their claims to justice, and as the chief motive of their efforts and action. I have always attached more importance to manhood than to mere identity with any variety of the human family..." "We should never forget that the ablest and most eloquent voices ever raised in behalf of the black man’s cause were the voices of white men. Not for race, not for color, but for men and for manhood they labored, fought, and died. Away, then, with the nonsense that a man must be black to be true to the rights of black men." [cite web|url=http://www.aboutfamouspeople.com/article1006.html|title=Frederick Douglass|publisher=About Famous People|accessdate=2008-06-26]

In 1900, the school moved from Saratoga Street near Charles Street, where it had been housed since 1889, to a building on the corner of Dolphin Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. [cite web|url=http://www.mdcivilrights.org/DunbarDouglass.html|title=Douglass High School |last=Griffin|first=Kenneth |publisher=Maryland Historical Society, Doris M. Johnson High School|accessdate=2008-06-26] In 1900 the Baltimore City Public School System initiated a one-year training course for African American elementary school teachers, as a result Coppin State University, an HBCU Historically Black Colleges and Universities was founded at Douglass High School. In 1907 Coppin appointed its own principal and formally separated from the high school. In 1938 the curriculum was lengthened to four years and the college began to grant Bachelor's of Science degrees. [cite web|url=http://baltimore.org/multicultural/black-history|title=Black History|publisher=BACVA|accessdate=2008-06-27] In 1925 the school's name was formally changed to Frederick Douglass High School. The name change was the result of the subsequent move to the school's third location a new site at Calhoun and Baker Streets. That same year the first class entered the new institution and for the first time in Baltimore, black students had a gymnasium, a library, and cafeteria. During the 40s and 50s Douglass produced dozens of notable alumni including civil rights activists Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr.,Juanita Jackson Mitchell, Lillie Mae Carroll Jackson, jazz legends Cab Calloway, Chick Webb, Ethel Ennis and opera star Veronica Tyler. Douglass is currently located on Gwynn's Fall Pkwy in the old Western High School across the street from Coppin's campus.

In 2008 Frederick Douglass was the subject of an HBO documentary: "Hard Times at Douglass High: A No Child Left Behind Report Card" directed by Oscar award winning filmmakers Alan Raymond and Susan Raymond, which highlights the academic and financial struggles of the school under the No Child Left Behind Act. [http://www.hbo.com/docs/docuseries/hardtimes/index.html]

Demographics

Douglass high school, as of 2007, had 1,151 students, of which 52% were female. African American students made up 99% of the total student population with 53% qualifying for free lunch. The school has 59 teachers for a 1:20 teacher per pupil ratio. [cite web|url=http://www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/35876|title=Frederick Douglass High School|publisher=2003- 2008 Public School Review|accessdate=2008-06-26] The break down of students per grade was:
* Grade 9 - 491 students
* Grade 10 - 233 students
* Grade 11 - 212 students
* Grade 12 - 215 students

Notable Alumni

*Clarence W. Blount, first African American Majority leader (1983-2003), Maryland State Senate
*Cab Calloway, jazz singer, band leader
*Paula Campbell, recording artist
*Frank M. Conaway, Clerk of Circuit Court, Baltimore City (1998-present), Delegate, District 4 (Baltimore City),
*Arrie Davis, Judge, Maryland Court of Special Appeals
*Ethel Ennis, jazz singer
*Lillie Mae Carroll Jackson, veteran civil rights activist, founder Baltimore branch NAACP
*Labtekwon, hip hop artist
*Thurgood Marshall, Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
*Kweisi Mfume, U.S. Congressman (1987-1996), former President/CEO, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
*Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr., civil rights activist, namesake Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Courthouse
*Juanita Jackson Mitchell, civil rights activist, lawyer, first African American female to practice law in Maryland
*Parren Mitchell, U.S. Congressman (1971-1987)
*Pete Rawlings, Appropriations chairman, Maryland House of Delegates
*Bishop L. Robinson, First African American police commissioner of Baltimore, Maryland [cite web | title="When it’s Broken, You’ve Got to Fix It" | url=http://law.ubalt.edu/notabene/robinson.html]
*George Levi Russell, Jr., Judge, Circuit Court, Baltimore City
*Chick Webb, Jazz drummer, band leader
*Agnes B. Welch, Baltimore City Council (District 4, 1983-2002) (District 9, 2002-present).

External links

* [http://www.bcps.k12.md.us/School_Info/Index.asp?schoolNum=450&imageField.x=5&imageField.y=6 School profile]

References