Sumner High School is a

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

public high school A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...

that was the first high school for

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

students west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

in the United States. Together with Vashon High School, Sumner was one of only two public high schools in St. Louis City for African-American

students A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school ...

and was segregated. Established in 1875 only after extensive

lobbying Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agency, regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by va ...

by some of St. Louis' African-American residents, Sumner moved to its current location in 1908. It has historically also been known as Charles H. Sumner High School, and Sumner Stone High School. As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 267 students and 26.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a

student–teacher ratio The student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio refers to the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers or staff in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that ...

of 10.2:1. There were 264 students (98.9% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 0 (0.0% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Sumner High

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the principal federal agency responsible for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data on education in the United States. Established under , it operates within the Institute of Education S ...

. Accessed May 28, 2025.

History

Charlton Tandy led protests of the planned siting of Sumner High School in a heavily polluted area in close proximity to a lead works, lumber and tobacco warehouses, and the train station as well as brothels. He said that black students deserved clean and quiet schools the same way white students do. The location went unchanged, and Sumner High opened in 1875, the first high school opened for African Americans west of the

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

."Travel Advisory; Black History in St. Louis"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', May 10, 1992. Accessed December 11, 2007. "Sumner High School, the first school west of the Mississippi for blacks, established in 1875 (among graduates are Grace Bumbry, Arthur Ashe and Tina Turner)..." The school is named after the well-known

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

senator Charles H. Sumner. The high school was established on Eleventh Street in St. Louis between Poplar and Spruce Street, in response to demands to provide educational opportunities, following a requirement that school boards support black education after Republicans passed the "

radical Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century *Radical politics ...

" Constitution of 1865 in Missouri that also abolished slavery. The school was moved in the 1880s because parents complained that their children were walking past the city

gallows A gallows (or less precisely scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sa ...

and

morgue A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cu ...

on their way to school.

Cottage Avenue campus

The current structure, built in 1908, was designed by architect William B. Ittner. Sumner was the only Black public high school in St. Louis City until the opening of Vashon High School in 1927. Famous instructors included Herman Dreer, Edward Bouchet and Charles H. Turner. Other later Black high schools in St. Louis County were Douglass High School (opened in 1925) and Kinloch High School (1936). In 2009, St. Louis Public School Superintendent Kevin Adams proposed several options with students and parents of how to deal with the problems of the school. He recommended improvements including using Sumner alumni to mentor current students, transferring troublesome students to different schools, and setting achievable goals for the school year.

Shootings

On October 23, 1973, a person was shot during a fight between two gangs. On March 18, 1975, two students got in a fight and one of the students tried to shoot the other but missed and killed 16-year-old bystander Stephen Goods. On March 25, 1993, female student Lawanda Jackson shot and killed her ex-boyfriend Tony Hall in a school hallway. Jackson was convicted of first-degree murder and armed criminal action and was sentenced to life without parole but has since been resentenced and paroled. On October 10, 1996, 17-year-old Lamon Jones was shot and killed by 15-year-old Kembert Thomas during a fight among several students. Thomas was convicted of second-degree murder.

Sumner Normal School (1890–1954)

In 1890, a normal school was opened at the high school, in order to train more teachers. In its early years the normal school was known as the Cottage Avenue School, and it was located on Cottage Avenue and Pendleton. It also went by the name Sumner Normal School. In 1929, its name was changed to Stowe Teachers College (which later merged to form

Harris–Stowe State University Harris–Stowe State University (HSSU) is a public historically black university in St. Louis, Missouri. The university offers 50 majors, minors, and certificate programs in education, business, and arts & sciences. It is a member-school of t ...

), after author

Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (185 ...

and it existed in the former Simmons Colored School campus from 1930 until 1940. With The normal school closed in 1954 in the wake of

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...

, the U.S. Supreme Court decision ruling school segregation to be unconstitutional. Florence Beatty-Brown was a sociology professor at the college.

Athletics

Sumner High's mascot is the

Bulldog The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is a stocky, muscular dog of medium size, with a large head, thick folds of skin around the face and shoulders and a rel ...

. Sumner's 1969 basketball team won the Missouri Class L state championship and featured future NBA and ABA players Harry Rogers and Marshall Rogers, as well as David Brent who was a 6th round draft pick for the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

. Sports that are currently offered are football, volleyball, basketball, baseball, track and field, tennis, and soccer.

Notable alumni

Arthur Ashe Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player. He won three Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, Grand Slam titles in singles and two in doubles. Ashe was the first Black player selected ...

(1943–1993), professional tennis player * David Peaston (1957–2012), famous R&B singer * Ethel Hedgeman Lyle (1887–1950), founder and "Guiding Light" of

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is an List of African American fraternities, historically African-American Fraternities and sororities, sorority. The sorority was founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington, D.C.. Alpha Kappa Alpha ...

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...

(1926–2017), musician in

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...

* Lester Bowie (1941–1999), jazz trumpeter *

Grace Bumbry Grace Melzia Bumbry (January 4, 1937 – May 7, 2023) was an American opera singer, considered one of the leading mezzo-sopranos of her generation, who also ventured to soprano roles. She belonged to a pioneering generation of African-American c ...

(born 1937),

opera singer Opera is a form of Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a lib ...

Baikida Carroll Baikida Carroll (born January 15, 1947) is an American jazz trumpeter. Carroll studied at Southern Illinois University and at the Armed Forces School of Music. Following this he became a member of the Black Artists Group in St. Louis, where he dir ...

(born 1947), trumpeter and composer * Alvin Cash (1939–1999), musician * Bill Clay (born 1931), politician * Nate Colbert (1946–2023), baseball player * Billy Davis Jr. (born 1938), singer,

The 5th Dimension The 5th Dimension is an American vocal group. Their music encompasses sunshine pop, pop soul, and psychedelic soul. They were an important crossover music act of the 1960s and 1970s, although both praised and derided for their particular music ...

* Juan Farrow (born 1958), tennis player *

Dick Gregory Richard Claxton Gregory (October 12, 1932 – August 19, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, writer, activist and social critic. His books were bestsellers. Gregory became popular among the African-American communities in the southern U ...

(1932–2017), comedian *

Robert Guillaume Robert Guillaume (born Robert Peter Williams; November 30, 1927 – October 24, 2017) was an American actor and singer. He played Fishbone on television series " Good Times", Benson DuBois in the ABC television series ''Soap'' and its spin-o ...

(1927–2017), actor known for portraying the character Benson DuBois on the ABC sitcom ''

Soap Soap is a salt (chemistry), salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually u ...

'' and its spinoff '' Benson'' * Victoria Clay Haley (1877–1926, class of 1895),

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...

and clubwoman *

John Hicks Sir John Richard Hicks (8 April 1904 – 20 May 1989) was a British economist. He is considered one of the most important and influential economists of the twentieth century. The most familiar of his many contributions in the field of economics ...

(1941–2006), musician * Jessie Housley Holliman (1905–1984), educator and artist * Julius Hunter (born 1943), television news broadcaster * Ivan C. James Jr. (1916–2014), engineer *

Oliver Lake Oliver Lake (born September 14, 1942) is an American List of jazz saxophonists, jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer, poet, and visual artist. He is known mainly for alto saxophone, but he also performs on soprano saxophone, soprano and flute. D ...

(born 1942), musician * Naomi Long Madgett (1923–2020), poet and publisher * Robert McFerrin (1921–2006), opera singer and father of

Bobby McFerrin Robert Keith McFerrin Jr. (born March 11, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter, and conductor (music), conductor. His Vocal pedagogy, vocal techniques include singing fluidly but with quick and considerable jumps in Pitch (music), pitch—fo ...

* Gene Moore (born 1945), basketball player *

Oliver Nelson Oliver Edward Nelson (June 4, 1932 – October 28, 1975) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. His 1961 Impulse! album '' The Blues and the Abstract Truth'' (1961) is regarded as one of the most signi ...

(1932–1975), jazz musician and composer * Bruce Purse, musician, trumpeter and writer * Wendell O. Pruitt (1920–1945), pioneering military pilot and Tuskegee Airman in whose honor the notorious

Pruitt–Igoe The Wendell O. Pruitt Homes and William Igoe Apartments, known together as Pruitt–Igoe (), were joint urban housing projects first occupied in 1954 in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. The complex of 33 eleven-story high rises was design ...

housing projects were posthumously named * Roscoe Robinson Jr. (1928–1993), first Black to reach rank of four-star general in US Army * Harry Rogers (born 1950), basketball player * Marshall Rogers (1953–2011), NCAA basketball scoring champion * Darnay Scott (born 1972), former NFL player. Transferred after his sophomore season * Moddie Taylor (1912-1976), chemist who specialized in rare earth minerals *

Ronald Townson Ronald Townson (January 29, 1933 – August 2, 2001) was an American vocalist. He was an original member of the 5th Dimension, a popular vocal group of the late 1960s and early 1970s; he is the only original member of the group who is no longer ...

(1934–2001), singer The 5th Dimension *

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...

(1939–2023), singer in

* Harold Wells (born 1938), former NFL player. * Arsania Williams (1886–1954), educator and clubwoman in St. Louis * Margaret Bush Wilson (1919–2009), first Black woman to head the board of NAACP * Olly Wilson (1937–2018), composer

References

{{authority control 1875 establishments in Missouri Buildings and structures in St. Louis Educational institutions established in 1875 High schools in St. Louis Historically segregated African-American schools in Missouri Public high schools in Missouri William B. Ittner buildings