Past. Present. Future? A Look Into Bronzeville and The ‘Fight for Dyett’

As Walter Dyett High School sets to reopen for the 2016 – 2017 year, a new chapter opens in Bronzeville history. The ‘Fight for Dyett’ campaign was successful in reopening the once closed high school but many community members believe the fight is not over. During an interview on Democracy Now!, Jitu Brown, member of the Coalition to Revitalize Dyett and co-leader in the hunger strike, proclaimed “This is not a victory for the children in Bronzeville…These are our children. These are our communities…So we will determine the type of education that our children receive in Bronzeville.” (Democracy Now, 2015). CPS had failed to recognize the community’s proposals for a new Dyett; the voices of Bronzeville were ignored.

Jitu Brown: “This is a human right issue. You know, the great poet and author Alice Walker said, “No one is your friend who demands your silence or denies your right to grow” (Democracy Now, 2015)

The closing and reopening of Dyett High School holds a unique narrative. The schools namesake, Walter H. Dyett, in his own right, stood up against systemic injustices put in place by the City of Chicago. As boundaries were being built around Bronzeville, Walter Dyett built bridges. Despite efforts to disenfranchise the African American community, Walter Dyett was able to create a thriving and highly successful music program. What might we learn from Walter Dyett’s success at DuSable High School? Perhaps by analyzing Walter Dyett’s success in his given conditions, we might be able to predict, even shape, what will be written in the next chapter of Bronzeville’s history.

A Community Founded by Hopes and Fears

The ‘Fight for Dyett’ represents a small battle in a long history of community action for social equality. For decades, residents of Bronzeville have been silenced and denied the right to grow. As the city’s African American population grew during the first Great Migration, the African American residents were forced to stay within the Bronzeville neighborhood through means of violence and intimidation (Ewing,  2016, pp. 19). The Chicago Commission on race relations concluded in 1922 :

“In all these fifty-eight bombings the police have been able to accomplish nothing definite …The precautions taken to prevent bombings, even if they were well planned and systematically carried out, failed lamentably” (Chicago Commission on Race Relations, 1922, pp. 123)

As the City of Chicago failed to deter violence and intimidation, the walls around Bronzeville became stronger. The growing population created stress on schools as they became overcrowded and under-resourced. Despite the growth of educational opportunities for African Americans in Chicago, the disparity of educated whites and black migrants continued to grow as measured by CPS’s “educational retardation” percentages (Daniel, 1980, pp. 134). The 1920 Chicago Commission on Race Relations report suggested that the City of Chicago failed to curtail the growing educational disparity between African Americans and whites (Chicago Commission on Race Relations, 1922, pp. 258-259). As Philip Daniel concludes in his article A History of the Segregation-Discrimination Dilemma: The Chicago Experience:

“Educational deterioration outweighed advancement and consequently, by the 1930s black children indigenous to Chicago, and their counterparts from the South, were being taught in a school system which saw no differences between them” (Daniel, 1980, pp. 135)

In 1929, the Chicago Public School board gave in to public outcry and protests over school overcrowding and poor performance and approved to build a new school that would meet the demands of a growing population (Department of Housing and Economic Development, 2012). A school that was once made up of all white middle class students was now an overcrowded and undeserved African American school.

After years of delay, the new building was completed in 1935 and named DuSable High School after Jean Baptiste Point du Sable who was coined the first resident of Chicago (Pacya, 2009). The school was built under CPS’s predication that the school was designed “of Progressive-Era educational reforms which sought to broaden the scope of public education to include social, physical, and vocational education.” (Department of Housing and Economic Development, 2012, pp. 24) While progressive, these decisions were influenced by the City of Chicago’s effort to “prevent occupational advancement of blacks” by placing low scoring students into training for “occupations that  involved less celebration and more physical labor” (Daniel, 1980, pp. 135).

 

In hindsight, the education plan that the Chicago Education Board put in place for African Americans was partially detrimental to the community. However, in the 1930s, many African Americans saw the school as progress. The Chicago Defender praised the new school as “equal of any high school in the world in character of construction, quality of equipment, and general excellence and proficiency of the educational staff.” (Kellum, 1935)

After a fire at Wendell High, students were hastily moved into an unfinished DuSable High School in 1935. By 1940, the population of Bronzeville neared 150,000 with a density twice the city’s average (Wirth and Bernert, 1949). In the following ten years, combined enrollment for the 24 Bronzeville schools grew by 65 percent (Neckerman, 2010). Due to the restraints of segregation policies, district officials addressed the over-crowding by creating “double-shift” schedules, wherein black students attended school for only part of the day, then traded off with their classmates, creating both a deficit of instructional time and an easy opportunity for truancy.” (Ewing, pp. 33, 2016)

The Chicago Public Schools ultimately fell short of their promise to improve the conditions of African American schools. In the case of DuSable the school quicklybecame overcrowded, nearly doubling its intended capacity. In its conception, DuSable was slated to accommodate 2,400 students; however, the number was soon surpassed. As CPS ignored the input of the community to revitalize Dyett, CPS ignored the public in building DuSable High School. As reported in the Chicago Defender:

“The over-crowding condition was anticipated and pointed out to the Board of Education during the early stages of the erection of the structure…[however] the Board failed to consider the wisdom of those who were more informed than its members about the needs of the community and the growth of the population…The over-crowding has existed for four years without anything being done by the Board of Education to relieve it…Many parents are now asking the question: ‘Was DuSable built at the cost of 3,450,000 or was it built at a figure that cannot stand the light of investigation’.” (The Chicago Defender, 1938, October 29)

The Board of Education’s failure to address the unsuitable conditions due to overcrowding became a large issue at DuSable. Learning conditions were comprised as teachers were forced to find any space available to conduct classes. According to the Chicago Defender, students attended classes “held in [the] assembly hall, special gymnasium, and anterooms to the faculty lavatories.” (The Chicago Defender, 1938, November 12)

 

Not only were overcrowding and poor teaching conditions an issue, the community dealt with high rates of truancy among students. The issue of truancy was enabled by overcrowding and the development of “vice houses” adjacent to Wendell Philip’s High School. The City of Chicago came to the conclusion that gambling and prostitution were inevitable and that these ‘districts’ would be confined to an area outside of white neighborhoods (Frazer, 1949). For young African Americans looking for financial support, local “employment agencies were often recommended to the houses of ill repute” (Daniel, 1980, pp. 133) Not only young boys were working here, young African American girls were recruited as prostitutes; it was only illegal to hire white girls (Daniel, 1980, pp. 133). The Chicago Chief of Police gave out licenses for prostitution with the caveat that “”they confined their activities west of Wentworth Avenue and east of Wabash Avenue” (Vice Commission of Chicago, 1912).

Wendell Peirce High School and schools alike had minimal leverage to address the issues of truancy as outside factors, such as the Chief of Police, enabled issues. It’s reported that at one point in the 1910s, truancy for African American boys reached 96 percent (Sandburg, 1919 pp. 69-70). As a result of the high rate of truancy, the gap between educated African Americans and whites grew. The number of African American boys to appear in juvenile detention grew by 180 percent between 1913 and 1918. In that same time period the number of African American girls to appear in juvenile detention grew by 50 percent (Woofter, 1928).

Waltery Dyett: Breaking Walls, Building Bridges

Walter Dyett was born in Missouri in 1901 and later moved to Pasadena California to attend high school and later the University of California at Berkeley. Dyett began studying violin in high school and would later becomeconcert master in the school Orchestra. After graduating high school, Dyett continued to play violin as the top violinist in the orchestra, as he pursued his pre-med degree. As a young African American man, Dyett attended prominently white schools and in both instances succeeded to the top of his class (Ewing, 2016, pp. 105). Despite racial tensions throughout the country, including race riots, Dyett was able to find success in school and on his instrument. This is where Dyett would develop his philosophy of discipline and staying positive, as later passed on to his students.

Despite Dyett’s success as a student, he was forced to leave his scholarship to medical school in Chicago and try to make a living as a musician to support himself, his mother and his sister (Ewing, 2016, pp. 105). Dyett worked for a few years as a freelance musician until the industry of silent pictures phased out. As a classically trained violinist, it is likely that Dyett struggled to find work in the industry as classical musicians were predominantly white. In 1931, Dyett would take over as the music teacher at Wendell Phillips High School later known as DuSable High School.

Dyett came into Phillips High School two years after the Chicago Board of Education decided to build a new school to alleviate overcrowding. However, as previously mentioned, the newly built school did little to solve this issue. The challenges Dyett faced as a teacher were significant and would heavily shaped the way he taught and developed his program.

Walter Dyett’s 33 years as a highly successful teacher were in part due to his ability to adapt. Despite receiving high praise, as directly evident in a 1940 letter from then superintendent William H. Johnson, Dyett supported his program through his own means (Johnson, 1940). Student Dorothy Donegan says “Dyett had to use the proceeds from the annual Hi Jinks affair to buy instruments for the band because the Board of Education would never furnish instruments for the students” (Dempsey, 1983). Do to overcrowding, the task of managing and supporting a large program was highly difficult. However, Dyett was not only able to support the band through private proceeds; he was able to provide individual attention within his large ensembles:

“Captain Dyett was an excellent musician and a hard taskmaster…He could hear a mosquito urinate on a bale of cotton…Out of a 150 piece concert band, he could tell exactly which instrument had made the mistake, and you would know it because he would stare at you with that one good eye and make you feel smaller than a snail” (Dempsey, 1983)

Perhaps more significant than his ability to adapt was his ability to motivate students. Dyett conveyed in his Master’s Thesis on Rhythm the importance of knowing oneself in order to understand others by becoming more “sympathetic and understanding” (Dyett, 1942, pp. 62). Dyett saw himself in his students and treated each student, while harsh and demanding, with great passion and concern. Dyett speaks of connecting with his students who he says were of a “racial group that is commonly considered to be by nature very rhythmic in feeling and execution” to not only teach rhythm but the discipline that rhythm demands (Dyett, 1942, pp. 61).

Music, in a large part, was only a means for teaching discipline and hard work, which for his students, could be applied to any vocation they choose. Dyett writes “If, in our music classes, we can kindle a spark which will inspire the students to be satisfied with only the best work that they are capable of performing, this development will surely be carried over into whatever field of endeavor they may choose for a vocation” (Dyett, 1942)

In appealing to the individual, Dyett used real world opportunities to provide relevant life lessons for his students. Hi Jinks was an annual production created by Dyett after he became frustrated by the treatment of local ‘white’ band festivals that would consistently rate his students with low scores (Bush, 2014, pp. 121). Bronzeville, as in its “consequence of its spatial isolation…became a semi-autonomous residential and business district…of black artistic and intellectual production” (Ewing, 2016, pp. 21) , so did Dyett’s music program. Not only did the Hi Jinks production raise funds for the program, it gave student real world performance and work experience that include paid positions for students. As student Leroy Jenkins recalls:

“Dyett was concerned with real life… [Hi Jinks] was a big time production, it ran for a week. And we were in the pit, doing pit music, fully arranged. The stuff that they arranged was not for amateurs. Captain Dyett brought in great/top notch arrangers to work with us.” – Leroy Jenkins (Bush, 2014, pp. 116)

Dyett pushed his students knowing that their options were: (1) work hard and have a chance to become successful or (2) succumb to an unfulfilled life taken over by poverty, drug use, and crime. For young African Americans in Bronzeville, the cards were stacked against them.  Dyett recognized this and was passionately outspoken to the nearly 20,000 students that passed through his doors (Department of Housing and Economic Development, 2012, pp. 20). Dyett had zero tolerance for student’s behavior both in and outside his classroom. If a student spoke back to Dyett, he or she would likely be expelled from the band for weeks or even months. Dyett would even dismiss students for coming to class not dressed properly.

These tactics of Dyett’s were in direct response to the real world his students lived in. As an African American citizen, the color of your skin was your largest ‘handicap’ to becoming successful. If that ‘handicap’ was compounded by anything less than hard work and a professional demeanor, the chance of success or even survival was minimal. Dyett goes to explain his reasoning further in his master’s thesis by suggesting the modern world has “many distractions that tend to divert the young mind from serious and conscientious study. It is a real job to endeavor to inspire these young people to wish to go further than a superficial scratching of the surface of music…” (Dyett, 1942)

Walter Dyett’s student, Leroy Jenkins, recalls the moment Dyett was aware he was using drugs:

“I remember why Cap put me out senior year for a week. Like I said, drugs were heavy in the neighborhood, and I was on them, and he knew it. He had recommended me to get a scholarship and then I was graduating and all that kind of stuff… I think he was trying to tell me, that if you do drugs you aren’t going to be able to work. He’d label you. He’d call you “under the L boys” or “weed-head”. And he used to call, you never heard of Kall Byrons, he had aids. He died, he did heroin and used dirty needles. He used to be a very talkative fellow, but now he’d just sit in, like a ghost. After he’d leave Cap’ would say something, not that he knew it was aids, they didn’t know what aids was at the time. But he’d show him as [an] example…” (Bush, 2014, pp. 112)

As a result of Dyett’s relentless discipline, students graduated from DuSable and many entered college to pursue careers or found steady work as not only musicians but, as former student Fred Hopkins recalls, “lawyers, doctors, bus drivers and all this. The thing about Captain Dyett is that the information that he gave us, you could apply to anything. After I left high school, several years later that’s when it started to sink in that this information, whether I became a musician didn’t really have nothing to do with it. He was just a positive thinking type person, and those were the things that he put on us.” (Pankin, 2011, para. 48)

An Arc Towards Justice

African Americans came to Chicago with promises of greater job opportunities. Along with the economic reasons, African Americans looked to flee the violence and racial tensions of the south. However, these hopes were met with similar forms of violence and racial tensions in Chicago. The City of Chicago holds accountability as it became an agitator. These issues are in many respects similar to or in direct relation to the issue the community of Bronzeville faces today. The narrative of continuous struggle within Bronzeville is rooted in social inequality as fueled by the City of Chicago’s failure to address the needs and work directly with community members to resolve problems.

In Ewing’s dissertation, she highlights the clear differences between CPS and many community members:

CPS

– “School closing have nothing to do with race and are a natural byproduct of unforeseen circumstances.”
– “The schools proposed for closure are on trial, and a presentation of the evidence will demonstrate that the closing are reasonably justified.”
– “In assessing the quality of a school, the primary criteria are performance and efficiency.”

Community
-“School closings are racist in that they disproportionately harm black communities, particularly through the disruption of familial relationships.”
-“Despite its claim at objectivity, the district presents unreliable evidence and an erroneous narrative.”
-“In assessing the quality of a school, its history and legacy are as important as its performance on quantitative metrics.”
-“The district and its representatives are not to be trusted, based on prior experiences of broken promises”. (Ewing, 2016, pp. 68-69)

The crux of the issue in the ‘Fight for Dyett’ and the formation of DuSable is how does a community make its voice heard and its needs met. The case of Walter Dyett’s success shows the importance of having positive role models that are able to directly connect with the community’s youth and guide them to success through real world opportunities. Persons of passion such as Walter Dyett not only need to be teachers but administrators and holders of public office. Representation of the people on policy making levels gives voice to real change and opportunity to better the community of Bronzeville. A continuing fight by leaders such as Jitu Brown along with a coalition of young people can over time create increments of positive change for the community. Dr. Martin Luther King said “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Walter Dyett and those who fought for Dyett High School have brought the arc of justice ever closer.