"We emphasize that no one section of the population can be isolated and segregated without taking from it the advantages of the common culture." In 1927, the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) Board of Commissioners decided to create a new all black high school, which showed regression as the school system had been integrated since 1872. As a result of overcrowded high schools throughout Indianapolis and pressure from the local Ku Klux Klan demanding segregation, the IPS Committee on Instruction unanimously voted to move forward with the plans.
Many black citizens were unhappy with the idea and believed that their new school building would be inferior. To show their anger with the Board of School Commissioners, the Better Indianapolis League, "a civic organization of progressive colored citizens," sent a petition protesting the new school. The League argued it was unjust to collect tax dollars from citizens who were not supportive of a segregated school and would create a community that was divided. IPS tragically went through with their plans to create the segregated high school. Protest Against Proposed Colored High School, IPS Board Minutes, 1922
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Crispus Attucks High School, Architectural Design, Harrison and Turnock Architects and Engineers, 1926
IPS School Board Decision, IPS School Board Minutes, 1922
(Click to enlarge) Originally the school was named Thomas Jefferson High School, but many black citizens protested the school should not be named after a past slaveholder. The black community argued the name be changed to Crispus Attucks High School. The citizens triumphed in changing the school's name to to honor Crispus Attucks, a runaway slave and first person to die at the Boston Massacre.
"The public school is created for the education of the childhood of the land; for the training of the mind and hand, and the inculcation of those finer ethical ideals (so beloved by all Americans) of justice, fair-play, honesty, and the giving of every citizen a man's chance." "Absolutely Attucks is a national story. It was created out of hatred, but it has endured a legacy..." |