Sumner High School
Until 1904, the high school in Kansas City, Kansas had been racially integrated. Kansas state law had originally provided for segregation at the primary level only, and local governments were mandated to establish integrated high schools. In compliance with the law, students of all races had attended Kansas City, Kansas High School for many years in relative harmony. There had been a
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minor incident in 1890 when Miss Dora Evans, an Afro-American student,
graduated from the city's high school. At the commencement ceremonies,
a white pupil named Lawrence Mason caused a stir when he refused to take
his assigned seat next to her. The unpleasantness was cut short,
however, when another white student (a boy whose name was Helwig) offered
to exchange places with him.
The 1890s and the early years of the twentieth century
represented a period of unprecedented racial intolerance in the United
States. Throughout the country, customs of segregation were being
codified in a rigid set of "Jim Crow" laws. Theatres, hotels, restaurants,
stores, public transportation, waiting rooms - all either excluded Afro-Americans
or afforded them separate facilities and unequal treatment. In 1896,
the constitutionality of segregation was upheld by the Supreme Court in
the infamous Plesey vs. Ferguson decision. Even more menacing
than adverse court rulings was the escalating level of mob violence in
the South and in several northern cities. During the 1890s there
was an average of 150 lynchings per year in the United States.
There was never an actual lynching in Kansas City,
Kansas, but in 1904 there was an altercation that very nearly resulted
in the mob execution of an Afro-American teen-ager named Louis Gregory.
Events surrounding this incident led to the establishment of Sumner High
School. It was no ordinary beginning for an educational facility,
and the story of what transpired reveals something of what Kansas City,
Kansas was like during this grim period in our nation's history.
The following account was compiled by Orrin Murray Sr., who as a young
child lived not far from where the incident took place:
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Springfield rifles in hand and positioned themselves in front of the
jail house door. As the mob approached, Reverend McNeal reportedly
made the following pronouncement: "The first man to cross this line is
eating breakfast in Hell in the morning."' As these words were spoken,
his troup readied their rifles. It is difficult to imagine the tension
of that moment, but it was apparently a entirely convincing display.
The would-be lynch mob rapidly dispersed, and Louis Gregory was saved,
although he later received what was considered an extremely harsh prison
sentence.
The aftermath of the confrontation provoked diverse
kinds of reactions within the city. The regular law enforcement personnel
had failed in their responsibility to protect the prisoner Members of the
Afro-American community were forced to take the law into their own hands;
and two notably gentle clergymen had prepared to oversee the use of lethal
weapons in defense, not only a Louis Gregory, but of the rights and safety
of all Afro-Americans in the city. In several other place where groups
of Afro-Americans had banded together to prevent a lynching, there had
been even greater violence done to them in response. In Kansas City,
Kansas at least the bloodshed had been averted; and tacit recognition was
given to the rightfulness of their acts, when several of the, participating
veterans were subsequently hired as municipal police officers.
Within a large segment of the population, however,
the incident engendered increased racial polarization and hostility.
There had been immediate outbreaks of fighting at the high school, where
the slain boy had been a student. Proponents of segregation seized
on the occasion as a pretext for demanding the establishment of separate
high school facilities. To avoid further violence, the
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students were racially divided and put on half -day shifts. Under
the circumstances, the education of all was diminished. The situation
presented a dilemma for those who were opposed to segregation, and in the
end all yielded to the decision to create a separate high school for Afro-American
students.
Plans for the new high school were worked out in
a meeting that included Afro-American clergymen, lawyers, and educators
along with school district personnel. The meeting was chaired by
Superintendent M. E. Pearson, who was well-known for his fairness and progressive
outlook. A resolution was drawn up which requested that the state
legislature set aside the prohibition against segregated high schools under
the exceptional circumstances that prevailed in Kansas City, Kansas. Governor
E. W. Hoch opposed the measure, maintaining that it was an injustice to
penalize and to further handicap an entire group for the actions of one
person. He signed the ensuing bill under protest, and only on provision
that the building housing the new high school be truly equal to the one
used f or white students. Plans were drawn up to construct the building
next to Douglass Elementary School at 9th and Washington. Pending
completion, students attended classes at Western University. The
school was named Sumner, after Charles Sumner who had been a U.S. Senator
from Massachusetts, and an ardent abolitionist. He gained national
prominence during the pre-Civil War debates on the Kansas question.
Several days preceding John Brown's actions at Pottawatomie Creek, Sumner
was beaten senseless on the floor of the Senate by a "southern gentleman"
who claimed to have been deeply offended by Sumner's anti-slavery oratory.
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Sumner High School opened in the fall of 1905 with
eighty students and four teachers. In spite of the gloomy circumstances
which brought it into being, Sumner was later to be described as a "blessing
in disguise the bud had a bitter taste, but sweet indeed is the flower."'
The faculty included some of the most gifted young teachers in the entire
region. Sumner was the only Afro-American high school in Kansas.
It represented both a challenge and an opportunity, and it offered a unique
setting where Afro-Americans could apply their skills in guiding the careers
and aspirations of a great many young people.
The establishment of Sumner had a unifying influence
on the Afro-American community within the city, which somewhat counteracted
the fragmenting effects of geographic dispersion. Whereas the primary
schools increased contacts among the parents of particular neighborhoods,
Sumner brought people from all different parts of the city together.
And not just Kansas City, Kansas: Afro-American students from the towns
of Argentine, Rosedale, and even Johnson County were also required to attend
Sumner. As a result, the high school became the nucleus of a broad
network of relationships among students and their parents. Friendships
formed in this manner helped to bind the parents of the community together
and provided another basis for common action on matters of general importance
to Afro-Americans.
Largely because of the dedication of the faculty,
Sumner High School developed in a fashion that was consistent with the
governor's directive, i.e. it was in no way inferior to the other high
school in
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the city. Within several years of its founding, it was accepted
into the North Central Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges.
The certification (which was difficult to obtain, especially for Afro-American
schools) greatly facilitated the graduates' acceptance into college.
As a result, Sumner turned out a large share of college graduates.
There were three early teachers who were directly responsible for the school's
acceptance into the North Central Association, and who together exerted
a lasting and positive influence on the high caliber of education at Sumner.
Of the three, Mr. John L. Lewis was the first to arrive. He
came from Baton Rouge, Louisiana at the time of, or shortly after, the
Exodus; and in 1886 was appointed principal of Douglass School. After
Sumner was built, he became the first vice-principal. Mr. Greene
B. Buster arrived in Kansas City, Kansas in 1905 from Ohio. He was
among the original faculty members of Sumner. He taught history,
but also was responsible for initiating music and athletics at the school.
Mr. John Hodge first arrived in Kansas City, Kansas from Indiana in 1908.
He had been trained as a chemist and accepted a teaching position at Sumner
on a "temporary" basis until he could secure employment in his field.
Once there, however, he never left. He became principal of the school
in 1916 and served in that capacity for nearly forty years.
Separately and as a team, these three
men worked tirelessly for the improvement of Sumner High School.
Mr. Lewis, the eldest, had been one of the pioneer Afro-American teachers
in Kansas City, Kansas. He also had been the first to hold a university
degree. He was known and respected throughout the community, and
by the time Sumner was built he had already overseen the education of one
whole generation. Mr. Hodge and Mr. Buster both had Master's degrees,
and both had published in professional journals. Mr. Buster was a
contributor to the well-known Journal of Negro History and was visited
in his classroom by Carter Woodson, the journal's editor. Mr. Buster
was also the author of an historical novel entitled The Brighter Sun.
In his book he chronicled the experiences of three generations of his family
in their long but successful effort to free themselves from slavery.
It is an extremely well written book, in which a simple, but moving story
is told against the backdrop of historical events that Mr. Buster had come
to understand very well. In his lectures and through his writing,
he shared with his students the things he had learned and the pride he
felt for the unheralded accomplishments of his ancestors. Through
the influence of Mr. Buster and his colleagues Sumner High School developed
into a place where students and teachers expressed the belief that they
were working together to overcome the handicaps of racism, and to dispel
the myths upon which this pernicious doctrine was founded.