Tucson, Ariz. (13 news) – The Dunbar Pavilion in Tucson was once the oldest divided elementary school of the city.
Today, the more than 100-year-old building located at 325 West 2nd Street serves as a center for several programs and resources that support Tucson’s African-American community.
Classes are used as dating spaces and the auditor can be rented for various gatherings.
While a lot of restoration work has been done to bring the historic building where it is today, the work is not over yet.
For now, part of the Dunbar pavilion, which was built in 1943, is turning into one that will become a center of empowerment for black -owned local businesses.
“Because the Black Community is such a small percentage in Tucson, this country should remain a connection country, a community country,” said Pavilion Dunbar Freda Marshall.
Marshall said the nonprofit was given a federal grant more than a million dollars for the construction of a business empowerment center a few years ago. The city of Tucson is leading the project. The first stage to eliminate lead and asbestos from the structure is complete and construction will begin soon.
“We want people to get out of their underwear, we want people to get out of their closets if they are ready to really start their business,” Marshall said. “We want to serve as that center, like that source, that they are able to do it.”
To understand the heritage and power the building possesses you must return in time to understand its story.
After citizenship in 1912, the Arizona Constitution mandated that African -American children attend separate schools. The first African -American school of Tucson, known only as the “Color School”, founded in 1913, was held in the back of the former Stonecia Furr on 215 E. 6 and was under the direction of principal Cicero Simmons. Today, the building is a marijuana distributor.
Until 1918, Tucson’s African-American students moved to the newly built Dunbar Laurence in West 2nd Street. It served as the only separate city school for more than 30 years.
In 1952, the Dunbar School was integrated and renamed John Spring Junior High.
87-year-old Barbara Lewis works as a historian of the Dunbar Pavilion. Its passion for the previous school is personal. She followed Dunbar from 1942 to 1950.
“I know we were deprived of many things, but they were really happy years for me,” Lewis said.
Lewis said that despite using books and no libraries, local, audience or gymnasium; They had teachers who taught them to dream big.
“We had people to tell us that we could do almost everything,” Lewis said. “We didn’t think of” Oh we’re separated. “Never remember I thought ‘I’m sure I would like to go to a school with white children, which never happened to me.”
It is the love that former students for the school that has kept it standing. Lewis said in a reunion of the classroom in the 1980s, the Dunbar coalition became aware that their old school was breaking down and decided to buy it for $ 25.
“All the windows were broken, the plumbing was rusty, electricity disappeared,” Lewis said. “What people see now may not look like they are all fun and up -to -date, but there are millions here.”
Alumni who saved the historical structure can now see her heritage live through the next generation.
“Everyday we’re here we’re making history now,” Marshall said. “And we will make the story 10, 15 years below the line.”
Marshall said they hope to start construction at the new spring empowerment center with a purpose of completion until the fall of this year.
No -profit relies on grants and donations to hold the lights. Marshall said they are constantly looking for funds to improve all aspects of the aging center. Along with the new business center, she said there are additional classes that they hope to renovate.
If you are interested in donating to the Dunbar pavilion, visit them website.
Make sure you sign up on the 13 News YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/@13newskold