I have the chance to take some pictures of a school from the era of Jim Crow earlier today. This school's principal from the 1920s has some importance in the history of higher education and literature. The main part of this school was built in 1910 — the same year as the white school in the same city, which I want to show you some pictures of real soon. The contrast is stark, if unsurprising. It doesn't come out clearly in this photograph, but I really like the art deco designs on the building (particularly on the towers). What's the school and where is it? Would it make this question too easy to say that a well-known figure in American literature was educated here?
Jim Crow School Trivia Question
Posted by
2
2
Tough one! The building is Oklahoma City's Page-Woodson School. It was known as Douglass Senior High School when Ralph Ellison graduated in 1932.
As always, Owen, you got it. Very, very impressive on all points. This month is the 100th anniversary of Ellison's birth (or maybe it's 101 — there's a dispute about whether he was born in 1913 or 1914.)