Lucy Fish
Contributing Writer
Men’s basketball played against McCluer at the annual Douglass Night game. Webster players wore Douglass jerseys to commemorate the former basketball players who attended Douglass High School.
Douglass Night is an annual basketball game played at Webster Groves High School. Webster players wear Douglass uniforms with the names of the Douglass players to honor the school.
Following the Civil War, classes for black children were held in the First Baptist Church on Shady Avenue, by a white teacher named Mrs. Dotwell, whsose full name isn’t recorded. The Webster Groves School District took over in 1868, and in 1871 the First Baptist Church had their very first black teacher, T.A. Bush. In 1872, the school moved to a rented building until it burned down, so the school moved back to the church, staying there until 1892, when a new elementary school was built.
In 1895, parents who lived in North Webster asked for this school to be given a name and proposed the idea of letting the students submit names for the school. The name chosen was Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist who had escaped slavery in 1838.
The school only went up to eighth grade, and for further education students had to attend Sumner High School, which was outside of the Webster district. Seventy-five percent of the tuition for Webster students to attend was paid by the Webster district, and the other 25% was paid by parents. In 1920, the School Board decided that it made more sense cost wise to found its own school, so additional high school grades were added to the elementary.
Douglass High School opened in the fall of 1925 and was an African-American only school, open to students throughout the St. Louis County area. The first principal, Herbert Davis, kept the title of principal from 1925-1929, and worked to establish an academic program, as well as sports and clubs, that could be recognized the same way as the predominantly white high schools in the St. Louis area.
H.B. Goins, principal from 1929-1956, worked with the goal of making Douglass High School one of the top schools in the country, and created the concept of “Douglass Pride.”
In 1947, the elementary school relocated to its own building, leaving the old elementary school to be completely a high school. Douglass High School closed in 1956 following the Brown v. Board court ruling that all previously legalized segregation would be abolished in the United States.
The Douglass Game honors the history of Webster Groves, along with the accomplishments Douglass High School had.
See Also: Statesmen offense powers over McCluer in win on Douglass Night
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