Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (BTWHSPVA) is a public

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. Booker T. Washington HSPVA enrolls students in

grades Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also r ...

9- 12 and is the Dallas Independent School District's arts magnet school (thus, it is often locally referred to simply as Arts Magnet). Many accomplished performers and artists have been educated in the school. Some examples include Ernie Banks, Norah Jones, Erykah Badu,

Adario Strange Adario Strange is a New York–based writer, film director, and artist. He is best known for his documentary fil''The NYU Suicides''detailing a year of strange deaths at the famed university. In recent years he was Editor-in-Chief of the weekly n ...

, Valarie Rae Miller, Edie Brickell,

Kennedy Davenport Reuben Asberry Jr., better known by the stage name Kennedy Davenport (born September 9, 1980), is a drag queen, television personality, and dancer from Dallas, Texas, who came to international attention on the seventh season of ''RuPaul's Drag ...

, Sandra St. Victor,

Roy Hargrove Roy Anthony Hargrove (October 16, 1969 – November 2, 2018) was an American jazz musician and composer whose principal instruments were the trumpet and flugelhorn. He achieved worldwide acclaim after winning two Grammy Awards for differing styles ...

, and Scott Westerfeld.

History

In 1892, Dallas established its first high school for African-American pupils. In 1911, the school was enlarged and named the Dallas Colored High School. The school was moved in 1922 to larger quarters, designed by famed Dallas architects Lang and Witchell, and renamed Booker T. Washington High School, after the African-American education pioneer Booker T. Washington. For many years, it was the only Dallas high school that allowed students of color. In 1939, Wilmer-Hutchins Colored High School of the Wilmer-Hutchins ISD burned down in a fire. Afterwards, African-American WHISD students were sent to DISD high schools for "colored" people such as Washington. In 1942, teacher Thelma Paige Richardson sued the Dallas School District, demanding equalization of pay based upon tenure and merit; the school district denied that any discrimination was taking place. Richardson, with the help of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

, won the case, increasing general awareness of

discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...

in the public school system. In 1952, it was enlarged yet again, and given the new name as Booker T. Washington Technical High School. In 1976, the school was repurposed as the Arts Magnet at Booker T. Washington High School, inheriting and expanding the magnet-school arts curriculum that had been in place in the Performing Arts Cluster at Skyline High School since 1970. The Arts Magnet became a prototype for magnet schools across the country. The repurposing was part of the federal court desegregation orders that created the magnet school system in Dallas ISD (''Tasby v. Estes''). Paul Baker was selected by Superintendent Estes as founding director of the school. The neighborhood surrounding Washington has evolved into the Dallas Arts District. The main school building was designated an official

Dallas Landmark Dallas Landmark is a designation by the City of Dallas and the Dallas Landmark Commission for historic buildings and districts in Dallas, Texas, United States. Listed sites are selected after meeting a combination of criteria, including historica ...

in 2006. In 2008, the building was enlarged a third time when a new $65-million facility designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture, was completed. The expansion preserved the historic main building.

Statistics

The attendance rate for students at the school is 96%, equal with the state average; 32% of the students at Washington are economically disadvantaged, 2% enroll in special education, 31% enroll in gifted and talent programs, and 1% are considered "limited English proficient." The class of 2017 managed to receive over $60 million in offered scholarships and grants. The ethnic makeup of the school is 39% White American, 23% African American, 32% Hispanic American, 3%

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

/ Pacific Islander American, 3%

multiracial Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...

, and 1% American Indian/ Alaskan Native. The average class sizes at Washington are 20 students for English, 27 for foreign language, 19 for

math Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

, 22 for science, and 25 for social studies.

Notable faculty

* Julia Caldwell Frazier

Notable alumni

Notable alumni include: * Erykah Badu - Grammy Award-winning artist * Zac Baird - keyboardist for

nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...

band

Korn Korn (stylized as KoЯn, or occasionally KoRn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream. Originally formed in 1993 ...

* Ernie Banks -

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

baseball player * Bill Blair - Negro leagues baseball player, newspaper publisher * Edie Brickell - Grammy Award-winning artist *

Miguel Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best kno ...

- actor, '' Hamilton'' in Chicago and on Broadway * Reed Easterwood - rock guitarist *

Laganja Estranja Jay Evan Jackson, known professionally as Laganja Estranja (born December 28, 1988) is an American choreographer and drag queen based in Los Angeles. Laganja competed on the sixth season of '' RuPaul's Drag Race'', finishing in eighth place. Sh ...

- ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' season six, top eight *

- ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' season seven, top four *

Todd Duffey Todd Duffey (born Robert Gordon Duffey; April 9, 1974) is an American actor. He was born in Raleigh, North Carolina and grew up in Texas where he studied and performed in theater. Career Duffey is best known for his role as Brian, the Chotchkie's ...

- actor, '' Office Space'' (1999), Waiter with "flair" * Arlo Eisenberg - X Games in-line skate athlete and visual artist * Shahine Ezell - actor, producer, DJ * Froy Gutierrez - actor, singer, model *

- Grammy Award-winning jazz musician, performer *

Darius Holbert Darius Holbert (born August 5, 1974 in Dallas, Texas) is a composer of film scores for movies, television and other media, as well as a songwriter, a touring and recording musician. He has composed music for numerous films including the feature d ...

- film/TV composer, album producer, performer * Willie Hutch - singer, songwriter * Norah Jones - Grammy Award-winning artist * Shaun Martin - Grammy Award-winning jazz musician *

Bunny Michael Melisa Rincón (born ) known professionally as Bunny Michael, is an American interdisciplinary visual artist, musician, and rapper. Early life and education Bunny Michael was raised in Dallas, Texas. They are the middle of three children born ...

- visual artist, musician, and rapper * Elizabeth Mitchell - actress, known for her role as Dr. Juliet Burke on '' Lost'' * Ephraim Owens - musician (trumpet) * Shawn Pittman -

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer *

Marc Rebillet Marc Rebillet (; born December 10, 1988) is a French-American electronic musician and YouTuber from Dallas, Texas, currently based in New York City. Known for his improvised funk and hip-hop electronic music with free flowing, humorous lyrics, R ...

- electronic musician and YouTube performer * Julia Scott Reed - journalist *

Don Sidle Donald Roy Sidle (June 21, 1946–May 25, 1987) was an American professional basketball player. A 6'8" forward/center, Sidle played at the University of Oklahoma from 1965 to 1968. He was an All-American in 1967 and 1968, after seasons in whi ...

- NBA draft pick from the University of Oklahoma *

Erica Tazel Erica Tazel (born 1977) is an American theatre and television actress best known for the role of US Deputy Marshall Rachel Brooks in the FX television series '' Justified'' (2010–2015). Life and career Tazel holds a B.A. from Spelman College a ...

- actress (''Justified, Roots, Mafia III, Firefly'')

References

External links