Thomas Jefferson High School – Los Angeles CA

Description

Thomas Jefferson High School was one of many schools in Los Angeles, CA, that benefited from refurbishment funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA) following the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake.

In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake. One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months.

Jefferson High School’s 45-unit Streamline Moderne campus, designed by architect Stiles O. Clement, was completed in 1935. According the Los Angeles Conservancy, “Notable features include the horizontal banding, rounded corners, and distinctive ‘Broadway Script’ lettering. Built as a replacement for an earlier Colonial Revival style high school campus in 1936, Thomas Jefferson High School served a primarily African American student body and had a dedicated corps of African American teachers, some of whom were nationally recognized educators. The original facility opened in 1916, making it the fourth oldest public high school in Los Angeles. […]

“Samuel R. Browne, a Jefferson High School graduate, was among the school’s most distinguished faculty members,” the L.A. Conservancy continues. “Browne, who received advanced degrees from the University of Southern California in music and education, wanted to teach locally, but the only schools that would offer him a job were segregated schools in the South. Instead, Browne went on the road with a musical quartet and later returned to take a job at Jefferson High School. In 1936, he became the first black teacher to integrate the school, amidst strong objections from the all-white faculty. […] By some estimates, Jefferson High School is believed to have produced more prominent jazz figures than any other school in the western United States. The school counts Dexter Gordon, Etta James, Art Farmer, Melba Liston, Chico Hamilton, Ivie Anderson, and Richard Berry among its notable alumni.”

Artist Ross Dickinson painted a four-panel mural, “History of the Recorded Word” (1937), in the school library with Federal Arts Project funding. The panels depict the history of printing, with subjects including hieroglyphs, manuscripts, the first printer, and modern printing.