Paul Laurence Dunbar School NRHP Nomination

Historic Preservation // Cultural Resources

In collaboration with Poster Frost Mirto Architects and the Dunbar Coalition, Logan Simpson prepared an NRHP nomination for the Paul Laurence Dunbar School, Tucson’s first and only school constructed for African-American students. The school operated as a segregated institution from 1918 to 1951, and as an integrated school under the leadership of Arizona’s first African-American principal of an integrated school, Morgan Maxwell, from 1951 – 1978. The school is significant in the areas of education and ethnic heritage, and for its association with Tucson’s African-American community, history of local school segregation, and as the only school built for African Americans in Tucson.