Wendell Phillips Academy High School - History

History

Phillips opened September 5, 1904 and was named for Wendell Phillips (1811–1884), the staunch abolitionist and advocate for Native Americans. He was one of the leading members of the American Anti-Slavery Society. The High School traces its history to 1875, when South Division High School was opened as the South Side's first public high school. When its new Phillips campus opened in 1904, the school was still predominantly populated by the wealthy children of Chicago's South Side mansions but this soon changed with the changing demographics brought about by the great migration. By 1907, 90 black students had enrolled at Phillips. Early yearbooks portray a racial mix in the student body, but by 1920 the school had become Chicago's first predominantly African-American high school. During this period, the school's winning basketball team was drafted by Abe Saperstein, a Chicago Parks and Recreation employee, to form the nucleus of a group that later became the Harlem Globetrotters. They were initially called "the Savoy Big Five", taking their new name from Bronzeville's Savoy Ballroom. Those players included Tommy Brookings, Hillary Brown, George Easter, William "Razor" Frazier, Roosevelt Hudson, Inman "Big Jack" Jackson, Lester Johnson, Byron "Fat" Long, William "Kid" Oliver, Al "Runt" Pullins, Randolph Ramsey, Ted Strong and Walter "Toots" Wright, all of whom were formerly students at Phillips High. In 1929, the Board of Education voted to build a new Wendell Phillips High School at 49th and Wabash Avenue. Economic conditions during the Great Depression slowed the work on the building; it was finally completed February 4, 1935. The old school "mysteriously" caught fire January 28, 1935, making it necessary for the students to move to the new school in February 1935. Now located at 244 E. Pershing Road in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, the school has produced a number of notable African-American alumni, including Nat "King" Cole, singing legend and charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the late Sam Cooke, and George E. Johnson, Sr., founder of Johnson Products (a cosmetics manufacturer and the first African-American owned firm to be listed on the American Stock Exchange). The school building was constructed in 1904 in the Classical Revival style, and was designated a Chicago Landmark on May 7, 2003 in time for its 100th anniversary. Phillips was used in the movie Save The Last Dance.