Spingarn Alumni Association, Inc.
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History of Spingarn Senior High School
Spingarn High School owes its existence to two factors: a tradition and a trend. The tradition was a segregated school system, the trend was the rapid increase in the school age population among Negroes in the northeast section of the District of Columbia. During the latter part of the thirties, discussions were frequent concerning the possibility of building a senior high school to complete the education center at Twenty-fourth Street and Benning Road.
On April 16, 1941, Garnet C. Wilkinson, First Assistant Superintendent of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia, directed a memorandum to Robert L. Haycock, Acting Superintendent recommending that the proposed new senior high school for Divisions 10-13 be located at Twenty-fourth Street and Benning Road. Suggesting that the school be named for Joel Elias Spingarn, Dr. Wilkinson said, “In his life, Dr. Spingarn remembered us; in his death, I desire that the Negro race should remember him.” When this suggestion was submitted to the Board, it was approved. Thus, the institution became a nominal reality. Ideas convert themselves from mind into mortar and stone very slowly in public school systems. Spingarn, therefore, traveled an unhurried course from conception to inception—through the bogs of Congressional appropriations and committee hearings, through alterations of architects’ plans, and through wartime shortages and inflated costs.
The breaking of the ground for the actual construction of Spingarn was begun on March 27, 1950. Citizens of the community saw piles of steel and stone assume the frame and form of a building. On June 24, 1952, the work was at last completed, and the building was formally approved by the Buildings and Grounds Committee of the Board of Education. As of June 30, 1952, the taxpayers of the District of Columbia had spent approximately $3,500,000 for the building and furnishings of the new institution. Purvis J. Williams was selected by the Board of Education to serve as the first principal of the school. Appointed with Dr. Williams as assistant principals were Annie E. Duncan and W. Tilford Davis. An able faculty of forty-five members was assigned to serve at the institution. On September 15, 1952, the doors of the Joel Elias Spingarn High School were opened to receive a student body of approximately thirteen hundred.
From the Spingarn High School Dedication
December 11, 1953
Giving Back to our Alma Mater
In 1994, Francis W. Smith and George D. Williams were attending a funeral for a Spingarn alumnus, Joseph Goffney. As they reflected on Goffney's life and the time they spent at Spingarn, they realized that the only time that Spingarn alumni would see one another was at a classmate's funeral. Just prior to Goffney's death, they had attended a funeral for Philander "Flop" Young, another Spingarn alumnus. Rather than let death be the tie that binds Spingarn alumni, Smith and Williams established the Spingarn Alumni "S" Club, Inc.
In May 2000, the name was changed from the Spingarn Alumni "S" Club to the Spingarn Alumni Association, Inc.
The purpose of the Spingarn Alumni Association, Inc. is to provide a vital link of support to the school in an effort to help facilitate the broadest possible student and alumni collaboration so as to encourage student leadership and enrich their educational experiences. The Spingarn Alumni Association principally intends to provide scholarships for students and alumni who desire to attend college, obtain vocational training or pursue other forms of post secondary education.
In August, 1995 the first attempt to raise funds to meet the goal of the Spingarn Alumni Association was a Salute to Dr. Purvis J. Williams (the first Principal of Spingarn Senior High School) in recognition of his dedicated and distinguished service and contributions of personal time and effort to the ideals of excellence in education in general, and students of Spingarn Senior High School in particular. This affair was well attended and was a tremendous success. The other fundraiser was in the form of a Christmas Party that was intended to bring together Spingarn alumni, and it was also well attended. Thus far, thanks to the efforts and contributions of many Spingarn alumni, the Association has enjoyed tremendous success.
Since its inception, the organizers of the Spingarn Alumni Association have attempted to locate and contact as many alumni as possible to increase membership to thereby broaden the volunteer base and increase the financial growth of the organization. However, much more is needed. We need you, the graduates of Spingarn Senior High School, to give us your time, your support, your ideas, and your areas of expertise to help us realize the vision and goal of the Spingarn Alumni Association, which is to improve the quality of life and enrich the educational experience of the current and future students of Spingarn Senior High School.
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