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

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

secondary school located in the Arts District of

downtown Dallas Downtown Dallas is the central business district (CBD) of Dallas, Texas, United States, located in the geographic center of the city. It is the second-largest business district in the state of Texas. The area termed "Downtown" has traditionally ...

, Texas, United States. Booker T. Washington HSPVA enrolls students in grades 9- 12 and is the

Dallas Independent School District The Dallas Independent School District (Dallas ISD or DISD) is a school district based in Dallas, Texas ( USA). It operates schools in much of Dallas County and is the second-largest school district in Texas and the seventeenth-largest in the ...

's arts

magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities (usually school boards) as 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 Ernest Banks (January 31, 1931 – January 23, 2015), nicknamed "Mr. Cub" and "Mr. Sunshine", was an American professional baseball player who starred in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs between ...

Norah Jones Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and as of 2012, has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. ''Billboard'' named her the ...

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by R&B, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the late 1990s when her debut al ...

, Adario Strange,

Valarie Rae Miller Valarie Rae Miller (born April 16, 1974) is an American actress. Early life Born in Lafayette, Louisiana and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, Miller became interested in acting when she was quite young. She attended a high school for the performing ...

Edie Brickell Edie Arlisa Brickell (born March 10, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter widely known for 1988's ''Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars'', the debut album by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, which went to No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' albums chart. ...

, Kennedy Davenport,

Sandra St. Victor Sandra Kay Matthews, known professionally as Sandra St. Victor, is a Dallas-born singer-songwriter most known for her work as lead singer of The Family Stand and their international hit single "Ghetto Heaven". She attended the now famous Booke ...

, Roy Hargrove, and

Scott Westerfeld Scott David Westerfeld (born May 5, 1963) is an American writer of young adult fiction, best known as the author of the ''Uglies'' and the '' Leviathan'' series. Early life Westerfeld was born in Dallas, Texas. As a child he moved to Connectic ...

History

In 1892, Dallas established its first

high 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 '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

for

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

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 Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...

. 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, won the case, increasing general awareness of discrimination 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 Arts District is a performing and visual arts district in downtown Dallas, Texas. It is located south of State Thomas; southeast of Uptown; north of the City Center District; west of Bryan Place; and east of the West End Historic Distric ...

. The main school building was designated an official Dallas Landmark in 2006. In 2008, the building was enlarged a third time when a new $65-million facility designed by

Brad Cloepfil Brad Cloepfil (born 1956) is an American architect, educator and principal of Allied Works Architecture of Portland, Oregon and New York City. His first major project was an adaptive reuse of a Portland warehouse for the advertising agency Wieden ...

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 White Americans are Americans who identify as and are perceived to be white people. This group constitutes the majority of the people in the United States. As of the 2020 Census, 61.6%, or 204,277,273 people, were white alone. This represented ...

, 23%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 32%

Hispanic American Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spanish and/or Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include all Americans who identify as ...

, 3% Asian American/

Pacific Islander American Pacific Islander Americans (also known as Oceanian Americans) are Americans who are of Pacific Islander ancestry (or are descendants of the indigenous peoples of Oceania or of Austronesian descent). For its purposes, the United States census ...

, 3% multiracial, and 1% American Indian/

Alaskan Native Alaska Natives (also known as Alaskan Natives, Native Alaskans, Indigenous Alaskans, Aboriginal Alaskans or First Alaskans) are the indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a numb ...

. The average class sizes at Washington are 20 students for

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, 27 for

foreign language A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a given country, and that native speakers from that country must usually acquire through conscious learning - be this through language lessons at school ...

, 19 for math, 22 for

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

, and 25 for social studies.

Notable faculty

* Julia Caldwell Frazier

Notable alumni

Notable alumni include: *

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

-winning artist *

Zac Baird Zachary Baird (born February 16, 1971) is an American keyboardist known for collaborating with the nu metal band Korn.http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1051801/korn-goes-experimental-vents-anger-on-new-album ''Korn Goes Experimental, Vents ...

- keyboardist for nu metal band Korn *

- Hall of Fame baseball player * Bill Blair - Negro leagues baseball player, newspaper publisher *

- Grammy Award-winning artist * Miguel Cervantes - actor, ''

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

'' in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

* 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. She ...

- ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' season six, top eight * Kennedy Davenport - ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' season seven, top four * Todd Duffey - actor, ''

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'' (1999), Waiter with "flair" *

Arlo Eisenberg Arlo Eisenberg (born 1973) is an aggressive inline skater who pioneered street skating. He is considered by many to be an important innovator of the aggressive skating industry. Biography Early life Born in Dallas, Texas on September 7, 1973, Arlo ...

- X Games in-line skate athlete and visual artist *

Shahine Ezell Shahine Ezell (Dallas, Texas) is a film and television actor, record producer, talent manager and songwriter. Ezell is Leighton Meester's talent manager as well as the songwriter and record producer of "The Nomads". He attended Booker T. Washingt ...

- actor, producer, DJ *

Froy Gutierrez Froylan Gutierrez III (born April 27, 1998) is an American actor and singer, known for playing Nolan Holloway in ''Teen Wolf'' and Jamie Henson in '' Cruel Summer''. Early life Gutierrez was born and raised in Highland Park, Texas and attended B ...

- actor, singer, model * Roy Hargrove - 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 William McKinley Hutchison (December 6, 1944 – September 19, 2005), better known as Willie Hutch, was an American singer, songwriter as well as a record producer and recording artist for the Motown record label during the 1970s and 1980s. Biog ...

- singer, songwriter *

- Grammy Award-winning artist *

Shaun Martin Shaun Martin is an American composer, arranger, producer, and multi-instrumental musician. Martin is a member of the jazz fusion band Snarky Puppy, as well as music director for Gospel music star Kirk Franklin, and former Minister of Music at Dal ...

- Grammy Award-winning jazz musician * Bunny Michael - visual artist, musician, and rapper *

Elizabeth Mitchell Elizabeth Mitchell (born Elizabeth Joanna Robertson) is an American actress known for her lead role as Juliet Burke on the ABC drama mystery series ''Lost'' (2006–2010). Mitchell also had lead roles on the television series '' V'' (2009–2 ...

- actress, known for her role as Dr. Juliet Burke on ''

Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

'' *

Ephraim Owens Ephraim Owens (born November 5, 1972) is an American musician, composer, and jazz bandleader who plays trumpet and flugelhorn. He has toured and recorded with the Tedeschi Trucks Band since 2015. He is one of the most highly regarded jazz musicia ...

- musician (trumpet) *

Shawn Pittman Shawn Pittman (born January 22, 1988 in Bellingham, Washington, United States) is an American rugby union coach and former player. Pittman played prop for Old Puget Sound Beach and the United States Eagles. He played in the 2011 Rugby World ...

- blues rock singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer * Marc Rebillet - electronic musician and YouTube performer * Julia Scott Reed - journalist * Don Sidle - 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