Living and Learning

Living and Learning. . , African American residents struggled through segregation and also faced challenges during the integration of Arlington Public Schools. Therefore, leaders sought solutions to accommodate the increasing population as schools and housing were insufficient., [Captions:] , In 1876, the Arlington School District established Kemper School No. 4. The Lomax A.M.E. Zion Church housed the first classes until the school district built a one-room school in 1885. Multiple buildings housed the Kemper School including the 1925 building shown above., Ada S. Gray (daughter of Thornton and Selina Gray), one of the first teachers at Kemper School, instructed her students in all subjects. Born into slavery in 1858 at Arlington House, Gray received part of her education at the Normal Institute, Howard University. She taught at Kemper School from 1876 to 1882., Following World War II, some of the African Americans displaced by the construction of the Pentagon settled in Dunbar Homes. These homes were built by the Federal Government and designed by noted African American architect, Albert Irvin Cassell, and located along S. Kemper Road near S. Shirlington Road. In 1964, eighty-six families formed the Dunbar Mutual Home Association and purchased their units from the Federal Government. The homes were demolished in 2006 and replaced with townhouses., Arlington Public Schools renamed Kemper Annex as Drew Elementary School in 1953 to honor Dr. Charles Richard Drew, prominent physician and resident of nearby Penrose. The school was renamed in 1971 as Drew Model school and became a County-wide magnet school. In 2000, the school (pictured above in 1996) was demolished for a new community center and school, named Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary School in 2019., Dr. Charles Drew was an African American surgeon and researcher, seen here circa 1940, who organized America's first large-scale blood bank and trained a generation of African American physicians at Howard University.