Section A · Page 4
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, July 26, 2000
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Museum showcases Black prep history
By Joshua Richards Special to the Kansan
An exhibit in the Spencer Research Library highlights the history of Summer High School in Kansas City, Kan.
"Achieving Against the Odds" showcases photos, yearbooks, lesson plans, letters and other school memorabilia from KU's Kansas Collection. The exhibit runs through Sept. 30.
Photographs, clothing, literature and other memorabilia dating from 1905-1978 from Sumner High School, a Kansas City, Kan., school known for academic excellence, is being featured at the Spencer Research Museum. The exhibit, which was arranged by the Kansas Collection, will last until Sept. 30. Photo by Nick Krua/KANSAN
In 1978, Sumner High School was closed by a court order to integrate all Kansas City school districts. Sumner Academy, a magnet school, was opened in its place.
The items on display are from the Sumner High School Alumni Collection, just one of many collections of African-American documents in the Kansas Collection. Since the mid-'80s the Kansas Collection has pursued documentation of the Black experience in Kansas and in the region.
During its history from 1905 to 1978,
Sumner became known for academic
excellence. When explaining the reas-
ons behind its success, former
Sumner students point to high-caliber
teachers.
"The teachers [were] pushing you, pushing you," said Brenda Enso, class of "58 and a teacher at Summer. "They told us. 'Reach for the stars.'"
Ison said the teachers made the students feel that there were no limits to success, even if there were very real social limits for Blacks.
Chester Owens, Sumner class of '49, agreed.
teachers told us; the parents told us." The Sumner school curriculum focused on a liberal arts education, which Deborah Dandridge, Kansas Collection field archivist, said was unusual, especially in the age of Booker T. Washington's popular emphasis on vocational education for
Blacks.
Summer quickly developed a reputation of academic excellence and produced the nucleus of educated Black elite in Kansas City, Dandridge said.
Renowned alumni of Sumner include Delano Lewis — former president of National Public Radio and current U.S. ambassador to South Africa — and John McLendon, legendary college basketball coach at North Carolina
Central, Hampton, Tennessee State, Kentucky State and Cleveland State and the first African American to coach a professional basketball team, the Cleveland Pipers
Dandridge said that Sumner High School was founded in 1905 in response to threats of racial violence in Kansas City. Kansas Gov. Edward Hoch approved a plan for an all-Black high school in Kansas City, Kan., to relieve
the tension.
Hoch stipulated that the building be the same quality as the white high schools, and that the Sumner teachers receive the same salaries as white teachers. This made Sumner an attractive place to work for highly qualified Black teachers, she said.
—Edited by BriAnne Hess
English literature class serious about kids books
By Karen Lucas
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone has appeared not only on The New York Times children's best sellers list for 83 weeks but also on a KU summer course reading list.
Michelle Stie, graduate teaching assistant in English, speaks to her class about Harry Potter, a character in J.K. Rowling's book series. Students in Stie's "Literature for Children" class began discussing Rowling's first book in the series last week. Photo by Aaron Lindberg/KANSAN
Michelle Stie, graduate teaching assistant in English, and the students in her course "Literature for Children" began discussing last week J.K. Rowling's first book in her series about Harry Potter, the fictional boy who can perform magic.
"Part of the reason I put it on the list was because the series has been such a phenomenon." Stie said. "But I also wanted to impress upon students that Harry Potter is a very old story wrapped up in an exciting presentation. It's the fight between good and evil."
Brebeca Diebelt, Lawrence senior,
said she got hooked on the series
when she read the first book during
the Fourth of July weekend.
"Harry's the traditional epic hero put in modern-day clothes," Diebolt said. "In a way, it's a male Cinderella story."
Another member of the class who is a fan of Rowling's work is Tracy Slaughter, Lawrence senior. Before driving to Bartlesville, Okla., about 200 miles south of Lawrence, Slaughter and her husband went to Borders Books Music & Cafe, 700 New Hampshire St., at midnight to get Rowling's fourth book, Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
"We read it the whole way down there and the whole way back" he said.
Stie said that readers could relate to Rowling's character.
Harry Potter," she said. "He is a misunderstood, abused character."
"We see ourselves a little bit in
Stie also said she appreciated how the series had encouraged many to read.
"What makes Harry Potter exciting
to me is that it has children and adults interested in reading." she said.
Stie and her class discussed how various critics, including some Christian bookstores, had opposed the books because of their treatment of magic.
Yet not everyone favors the stories about the child wizard.
Along with Harry Potter, the rest of the 10 books on the course reading list include such works as Francis Hodgson Burnett's *A Little Princess*, Lewis Carroll's *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland* and Robert Louis Stevenson's *Treasure Island*.
Stie said it was important to view children's works as literature.
these are sophisticated stories,' she said. "The assumption is that children's books are simplistic and not worthy of critical study. Nothing could be further from the truth."
One of the course requirements is a project, which can take various forms. Stie said that some students, for example, were submitting marketing plans for books or creative writing samples while others were writing research papers.
"I'm going to look at some movies and see how the endings have been altered for the modern audience," she said. "I think they're more realistic in some cases."
Slaughter is writing about film versions of fairy-tale endings.
Contributed art.
Melanie Yunghans, Leavenworth senior, gave high marks for the course, which Stie herself is teaching for the first time.
"I think it's an excellent class," Yunghans said. "It forces an individual to look at children's books in an adult way. You have to look at them from a social perspective as well as economic, political and racial perspectives."
—Edited by Chris Fickett
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