Reviews

First Class: The Legacy of Dunbar, America's First Black Public High School by Alison Stewart, Melissa V. Harris-Perry

browngirlreading's review against another edition

hopeful informative medium-paced

3.75

emilysmiller's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

taebochelle's review

5.0

This book was pretty amazing! The history of Dunbar, the renowned blacks who came out of Dunbar, the idea that black students who graduated from here thrived, until desegregation. This idea was crazy to me. To think that desegregation happened in 1954 to improve schools, I never imagined that it could have hurt a school. Once Dunbar was no longer able to choose who came, it was disheartening to see how the school slowly (or quickly) went downhill. It was sad to see and relate the students of 2000 to the students in the early days of Dunbar. It was disheartening to see how the community continued to have poverty as a huge impact and (being someone in the DMV) it was sad to see how the story ended with gentrification because I’ve seen how the blacks of DC have been slowly pushed out of their homes and neighborhoods. To think, that this school was built for blacks, and now, Dunbar III is built for the community, but it’s likely going to be a completely different population there, my heart hurt because I wondered where will the Dunbar students be pushed to? I loved this book, the history, the questions about education, the idea of what happens now, but the grammatical errors, I almost wished that a old Dunbar graduate proofread it and “marked it up with her red pen.” It definitely made it somewhat challenging to read, but the story resonated.

lesliekyla's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring slow-paced

4.0

cmbeegirl's review

4.0

every educator should read this book.

emonroe26's review against another edition

3.0

Really interesting school history and analysis of current school system and all of the politics involved with education. A little bit detail-heavy at times which made it draw out a little.

valkyriejmu's review against another edition

3.0

Generally, Alison Stewart did a good job with the overall narrative, but I'm sure old-school Dunbar graduates will have fits about the occasional typos and misspellings and that the narrative sort of broke down in the end. This is a good effort, but it could have been better.

cmbeegirl's review against another edition

4.0

every educator should read this book.

arisbookcorner's review against another edition

5.0

This is an amazing and sometimes painful story of America's first black public high school, located in Washington D.C. The author is the daughter of two Dunbar alums and she maintains a respectful tone when dealing with the school, reverential of its history but she includes the views of people who did not like the school, those who gradually became disappointed with it. She includes the multiple sides at play when the school was renovated in the 1970s (many alumni were against it because it destroyed the 1916 building but some alumni were for it and now the school has been newly renovated as modern-day people connected to the school bemoan it's '70s decor and design). I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that Dunbar's journey reflects the journey of many public-high schools in America, a school that used to be triumphant and attract the best talent in teachers and then went through a very serious rough patch and is currently attempting to rebuild and restructure. I love history and this book reminded me of how resilient Black people are, we made the best of a segregated high school and produced some of the finest contributors to our nation' history. It's a shame that it had to be segregated and is still mostly segregated today (the difference being that it is no longer mandated segregation of course). Reading about Dunbar's decline was actually heartbreaking as the atmosphere of the school changed; the caliber of the teachers seemed to deteriorate and the attitudes of the students turned less towards academics. The story becomes much more focused on socio-economics and shows the connection between Dunbar becoming a desegregated public high school and neighborhood-based instead, as the quality of the neighborhood changed so too did the environment inside the school. But the book ends on a hopeful note. The principal and few teachers interviewed seem passionate and dedicated, large sums of money were allocated for Dunbar to get newly renovated and promote it's heritage while leaving plenty of visible encouragement for its new students and their future achievements. I will be following the story of Dunbar with interest because I do think it plays a huge role in the story of public school education. This book read like a story, easy readability with an engaging cast of characters and great setting.

I only wish there had been a section in the back with short biographies and pictures of all the elite and famous Dunbar alumni such as Charles Drew, Benjamin O.Davis Jr., Sen. Edward Brooke, Anna Julia Cooper, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mary Church Terrell, and Jean Toomer (just to name a few).

Here's a link so that you can see the new Dunbar High School http://dc.curbed.com/archives/2013/08/photo-gallery-a-look-at-the-new-dunbar-high-school.php