Douglass High School (Missouri)
| Douglass High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
|
Holland Avenue, North Webster Groves United States |
|
| Information | |
| Type | Segregated Public Secondary |
| Established | 1926 |
| Closed | 1956 |
| School district | Webster Groves |
| Principal | Howell B. Goins (1929–1956) |
| Grades | 9–12 |
Douglass High School was a segregated high school in North Webster Groves, Missouri from 1926 until 1956. Named after abolitionist Frederick Douglass, the school served the area of North Webster, which had been settled by many black families after the Civil War.
The school was formed when the Webster Groves School District decided to stop paying tuition for students to attend the all-black Sumner High School, founded in 1875, which was miles away in St. Louis. So an elementary school, Douglass Elementary, dating from 1866, was expanded into a high school in the 1920s. Douglass High School was the only accredited public high school for African-American students in St. Louis County until the end of segregation in 1957.
Before the Civil War (1861–1865), black children in Missouri were not allowed an education. Following the Civil War, many black families had settled in Webster Groves, and in 1866, classes for black children were held in the First Baptist Church on Shady Avenue, taught by a white teacher, Mrs. Dotwell. The School District of Webster Groves took over this responsibility in 1868, a time when there were 30 black children in the area. In 1871, the school had its first black teacher, T. A. Bush, who had 23 students in his class. In 1872, the school moved to a rented structure, until it burned down, after which the school moved back to the church until 1892, when a new elementary school was built. This school, the first public school in Webster Groves, was named after abolitionist Frederick Douglass. In 1898, three students graduated the 8th grade. For further education, tuition needed to be paid for the students to attend the nearest high school for black students, Sumner High School in St. Louis City. Seventy-five percent of the tuition for Webster students was paid by the school district, and the families covered the remaining twenty-five percent. This arrangement was affirmed in 1918, when the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that education should be "separate but equal". In the 1920s, the School Board decided that the more cost-effective choice was just to found a new school, thus in 1925 Douglass Elementary School was expanded to include ninth grade, and over the next few years, additional grades were added until the school had a complete four-year high-school program. In 1929, the first graduating class consisted of eight students.
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