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Norton Speaks to Dunbar Seniors, Kicks Off Back-To-School

September 14, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) spoke on Friday to Dunbar High School seniors at a part of its Back-to-School celebration. Norton is a Dunbar alumna and the 2019-2020 school year marks the 65th anniversary of her graduation. Dunbar was the first public high school for African Americans in the United States and many well-known and accomplished Americans are alumni, among them, former Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke, the first popularly elected African American to the U.S. Senate; Wesley A. Brown, the first African American to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy; and Robert C. Weaver, the first-ever Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"My visit to Dunbar warmed my heart not out of nostalgia, but in hearing from a very different Dunbar than when I attended," Norton said. "What matters to me is that Dunbar continues to give today's students the magnificent start in life Dunbar gave me.

This week, Norton also announced she will introduce the Paul Laurence Dunbar Commemorative Coin Act, which directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint 50,000 five-dollar coins, 400,000 one-dollar coins and 750,000 half-dollar coins in recognition of Paul Laurence Dunbar, one of the most influential African-American poets in American literature.

Norton said she particularly appreciated the District of Columbia colleges that set up tables at the event, including American University, Catholic University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Howard University, Trinity University, and the University of the District of Columbia.

Paul Laurence Dunbar Senior High School was established in the District of Columbia in 1870 as the Preparatory High School for Colored Youth. The school was renamed for Dunbar in 1916.