Viewing page 7 of 58

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

Bird Fauset in the Office of Civilian Defense, Dr. Ralph Bunche, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, to cite a few of a continuing illustrious roster.  Such personalities produced an elite class, hosting cotillions, banquets, lavish weddings, social and cultural clubs, entertainment, and other noteworthy events in Washington, D.C.

The Thomas family moved comfortably within the ranks of Washington society.  John Harris became a sexton at The First Congregational Church, 17 and his wife Amelia was a dressmaker for the non-black elite of Washington, D.C.

In the fall of 1907, Alma entered the Armstrong Manual Training High School, founded in 1901 by Wilson Bruce Evans, organizer and first principal, whose belief in "work with the hand, the mind and the spirit" set the atmosphere for the training available for his students. 18  The pre-eminent example in Washington of a national campaign for vocational training for African Americans, Armstrong was illustrative of the educational philosophy promoted by Booker T. Washington, the schools dedication speaker.  A skillful orator. Washington was the leading spokesman of Negro vocational education, and the founder and first president of the Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama.  Named in honor of General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, Civil War regimental commander and founder of Hampton Institute, in Virginia, Armstrong Manual Training School educated thousands of black students, giving them a gateway to professional careers and entree to the Ivy League colleges, and other prestigious institutions as well.  Duke Ellington and Billy Eckstine, musicians, concert singer

7