There's an interesting story about a family in there who the father had grown to be quite powerful in the government printing office and ended up actually losing his family farm and home once he lost his job, once Wilson came into office. That's next Monday, August 26. And thank you all for listening. Have someone to add? So she really started the force of the teaching force that Dunbar became known for, this excellent, excellent teaching force. STEWARTAnd something he'd never forget. But the future of Dunbar may rest, in part, on its ability to reconnect with its past. If you have called, stay on the line. NNAMDIYou know, in the same way that Lee Daniels the Butler attempts to use the movie as a kind of historical reflection on the Civil Rights movement, in a lot of ways this is precisely what this book "First Class" is. D.C.s Dunbar High School will begin classes this year in a brand new building. Prominent graduates from Dunbar High School include celebrities, politicians, business people, athletes and more. As students and faculty prepare to move into a new state-of-the-art building, more than a century of history follows them. Dunbar High alums Del. How did going to Dunbar in your view shape his perspective? NEWS. She is the author of "First Class: The Legacy of Dunbar, America's First Black Public High School." I don't believe so. What are you talking about? A. Birch Jr. Mel Boozer James E. Bowman Naval Academy to reach the rank of admiral, and Edward Brooke, the first African American to be elected by popular vote to the U.S. Senate. I'm going to bring up that at one point to get into Dunbar, regardless of whether you came from another state or if you were a Washingtonian, you had to pass what they call, is the paper bag test and I'd like to know if that is written about in your book. CAMPBELLWell, thank you so very much, and, yes, indeed. STEWARTYou two stay together. MR. KOJO NNAMDIFrom WAMU 88.5 at American University in Washington, welcome to "The Kojo Nnamdi Show," connecting your neighborhood with the world. Although best known for his ten seasons with the Charlotte Hornets, Bogues also played for the Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors, and Toronto Raptors. JACKYeah, okay. I update it with stories from Dunbar graduates, and I also established a scholarship I want to say called the First Class Scholarship with the United Negro College Fund. My uncle who I mentioned earlier was a little bit of a rascal, and he would say if he had done something wrong, it had gone through the teacher grapevine, and by the time he got home his mother knew about it. Anna J. Cooper was this brilliant intellectual. STEWARTIn my mind, hearing my parents talk about it -- and my father's father went to Dunbar as well and graduated in 1915 when it was still the M Street School. More than a century of history will follow faculty and students into that new facility: Dunbar was the nations first public high school for black students. NNAMDIThat's why she choose it because she was an admirer of Paul Laurence Dunbar. Woodruff joins us to talk about her successful career in broadcasting, how the field of journalism has changed over the decades and why she chose to make D.C. home. STEWARTSo I, you know, as a journalist, I'm always in and out of D.C. and I said to a colleague, somebody from NPR, hey, I'm going to go over and see Dunbar. The people who rose to the highest within the ROTC, who were honor society, it was how smart you were. D.C.'s Dunbar High, America's First Black Public High School This list of distinguished Paul Laurence Dunbar High School alumni is loosely ordered by relevance, so the most recognizable celebrities who attended Paul Laurence Dunbar High School are at the top of the list. People on this list must have gone to Paul Laurence Dunbar High School and be of some renown. NNAMDIA lot of young people don't know what a typewriter looks like, but that's another story. 1948 Dunbar Graduating Class Composite. STEWARTSure. But he wrote some beautiful lyrical poetry, and one of the poems that he wrote is the motto of Dunbar. The thing that they did with us is that they said to us over and over and over again, you are exceptional. Prominent graduates from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School include celebrities, politicians, business people, athletes and more. It's a different era, but what sense do you get for how the blueprint that made Dunbar what it was can be applied to schools like the modern version of Dunbar today? STEWARTAnd the thing I think that is the best thing is that the graduates of Dunbar were excellent so that they couldn't be denied when they went out into an inhospitable world. Dunbar. Some of them had PhDs, but at a time when African-Americans were not welcome in any but HBCUs, those left over PhDs were often found at Dunbar, and all of them were very well educated people whose aspirations inspired us, and who had seen segregated class after segregated class come through Dunbar High School, and now knew that what everyone had thought should end was ending and there were teachers who cried. Yay for the people who asked that question. STEWARTAnd then once reconstruction ended, as they call it in the South, the redemption began, and all the Jim Crow laws came into power. The corporation works in partnership with the leadership and faculty of the school to create better futures for Dunbar students and graduates.