LEGACY SCHOOL
THE SUMNER HIGH SCHOOL CAFETERIA IS LIKE A FASHION SHOW, a sea of chin-length bobs and Barbie-like ponytails, twin sets, pencil skirts, and penny loafers. It’s 1961. In the midst of this pageant sits a quiet boy. To Jacqueline Vanderford, he seems lonely. Vanderford remembers a friend urging her: “Let’s go sit at the table with Arthur.” “Arthur” was tennis prodigy and future activist Arthur Ashe.
Socializing with Ashe is just one of the stories Vanderford, a 1963 Sumner graduate, tells about the school, the first high school for African Americans west of the Mississippi, located in the historic Black neighborhood The Ville. For a time, Sumner turned out students who, like Ashe, would go on to achieve great things in education, the military, law and government, and activism, but the list of students who helped shape the world of culture, arts, and entertainment is perhaps the most remarkable. Both the father and queen of rock and roll—Chuck Berry and Tina Turner—attended Sumner, as did opera stars Grace Bumbry and Robert McFerrin; singer/actor Robert Guillaume; and comedian/activist Dick Gregory. Some observers consider Sumner the biggest cultural influence on St. Louis.
But this spring, the school almost closed.
Vanderford, who was an educator herself for 40 years, helped start the Sumner Alumni Association. She estimates that the association has raised over half a million dollars for Sumner, feeding it into the school to assist in fulfilling its needs.
The cash infusion has helped, but when Saint Louis Public Schools conducted a study to identify schools in need of closure last year, the district looked at enrollment, building conditions, capacity, impact on the neighborhood, and other special considerations. Census estimates reveal that the city continues to lose Black residents, which some blame on the disinvestment in North Side neighborhoods such as The Ville. “When Sumner was at its peak enrollment, the surrounding neighborhood of The Ville was also thriving,” Superintendent Dr. Kelvin Adams says. “It was a hub of African-American community and culture. As the neighborhood has declined over more recent years with the loss of Homer G. Phillips Hospital and other stabilizing landmarks—and the overall population of the city has declined—Sumner has mirrored that decline.”
BLACK-AND-WHITE PHOTOS SHOW SUMNER IN THE 1930S AND ‘40S. PICTURED ALSO IS THE SCHOOL TODAY. “SUMNER HIGH SCHOOL IS FAR AND AWAY THE MOST
