Dunbar High was the alma mater of many accomplished African Americans: Benjamin Davis, the first black U.S. Army General, Mary Church Terrell, one of America’s first black college graduates and founder of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, and Norma Johnson, the first black woman to preside as a judge in the federal courts. Other prominent graduates were Charles R. Drew, Anna Julia Cooper, Kelly Miller, Wesley Brown and Carter G. Woodson, among others.
Author Alison Stewart has written “First Class” about the legacy of Dunbar High and the impact that America’s first black public high school had on black education in the country. Within the pages of the book, the author includes interviews with family members of graduates from Dunbar High, including the CEO of BET, Ms. Debra Lee, and Valerie Jarrett, President Obama’s Senior Advisor. Stewart has also created the First Class/United Negro College Fund Scholarship to assist students from Dunbar High School with college funding assistance.
