New Orleans' African-American leaders chalked up another victory when the much lobbied for Booker T. Washington High School, with its emphasis upon vocational training, opened in 1942. But it took federal funds to make it happen.

Meeting to discuss Booker T. Washington School Building
Thursday, August 26, 2010
6:30 PM
Sylvanie F. Williams School Cafeteria
3127 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

The opening of Booker T. (as it is affectionately known) in September 1942 was a cause for great rejoicing in New Orleans’ large African-American population. After all, in 1900 the New Orleans School Board had voted to limit black education to the first five grades. Now a splendid new high school was opening that rivaled any white school—not a hand-me-down school but a state-of-the-art facility built specifically for black secondary education—a first in the city.

How had it all happened? Through decades of sustained activism from black leaders and bailout from the federal government.

Lacking political power, black leaders worked through civic, religious and educational organizations to press their concerns before the school board, being first with the total lack of public education beyond the fifth grade, as mandated by school board policy in 1900. The sixth was restored in 1909, the seventh in 1913, and the eighth in 1914. With these milestones under their belts, black leaders began the campaign for a high school. The much sought after school opened in 1917 as McDonogh No. 35 in a recycled former school for whites.

The next item on the activist agenda was a sorely needed vocational school. But where to find the money? The Rosenwald Fund had expressed an interest but only if the school board shared the cost. In 1930 the school board sold bonds for school construction and allocated $275,000 toward construction of a black trade school. The Rosenwald Fund pledged $135,000.

In response to concerns that a black trade school might threaten white jobs, a public statement was issued, assuring everyone “that the trades to be taught at the school would be exclusively those which are largely occupied by colored labor at this time.”

But it would still be another dozen years before Booker T. became a reality. After purchasing a parcel of land for the purpose, the school board announced that it did not have the money to match the Rosenwald offer. Instead, in 1934 they built on the site a wood frame elementary school for blacks for $21,000.

Although disheartened by this broken promise, black leaders continued to champion their goal through the 1930s. But it was federal, not local funds, which made Booker T. possible.

Booker T. Washington's cavernous auditorium was used for much more than school functions. It became in effect the city's black municipal auditorium, housing legendary entertainers like Louis Armstrong, labor rallies, conventions and the like.

In the twilight of its existence, the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration funded the project to the tune of some quarter of a million dollars. Like other similar schools across the South, it was named for booker T. Washington, the famous black educator whose name is synonymous with what was called at the time “industrial education.”

But the opening of Booker T. gave the African-American community much more than a new high school. Accompanying the school (and attached to it) was a huge auditorium that became in effect the city’s black municipal auditorium. In the age of segregation, the roughly 2,000 capacity auditorium was indeed “separate but equal.” Soon after its opening, the facility hosted Paul Robeson in his first New Orleans appearance. The Louisiana Weekly reported that blacks turned out “en masse” to hear Robeson, although with “a fair sprinkling whites.” There were seven encores, and the audience was “almost shaking the roof with its thunderous applause.”

Other greats who graced the stage include Marian Anderson, Dizzie Gillespie, Mahalia Jackson and Louis Armstrong.

Booker T’s immense importance made it a natural for the National Register of Historic Places. The project was undertaken by the Division of Historic Preservation at the request of Booker T. teacher Mark Wuirk. The black leaders who pushed so hard for its construction would have been thrilled at the delegation of Booker T. graduates who attended the public hearing in Baton Rouge. In testimony after testimony folks spoke passionately about all Booker T. had given to them—from discipline to Bach, and everything in between. On Saturday, September 7, 2002, they celebrated the 60^th anniversary of the school and the listing with a historic marker dedication at1201 S. Roman Street.

Written by PRC board member Donna Fricker for Preservation in Print, September 2002