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GARY, Ind. (AP) — The first and only high school in Gary built exclusively for African-Americans, Theodore Roosevelt High School, recently was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The National Register listing recognizes Roosevelt for its architecture and association with the development of the city's black community.
The Colonial Revival school building, designed by renowned architect William Butts Ittner and built in 1930, is one of five school buildings he designed in Gary.
Funding for the nomination was through the Partners in Preservation Program, which allowed a consultant to work with the National Roosevelt Alumni Association to nominate the building for the National Register.
Tiffany Tolbert, director of the Northwest Field office for Indiana Landmarks, said documentation combines the architectural history along with social and cultural history associated with the building, which also is on the state's historic list.
"The research is extensive. The building is historically significant," she told The (Munster) Times (http://bit.ly/15gy3LL ).
Gary Roosevelt joins other historic sites in the state including Gary's St. Augustine Episcopal Church, Hobart's Unitarian Church and the Josephus Wolf House, a mansion built in 1875 in Porter County.
Tolbert said the designations are honorary, but make the properties eligible for grants to preserve the building.
Tolbert said the nomination process begin in 2007 and took several years and the assistance of historic preservation consultant and architectural historian Gregg Abell.
Stephen McShane, co-director at Calumet Regional Archives at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, said Roosevelt is one of the greatest landmarks for African-American history in the state.
"It represents a significant time period in Gary's history," he said.
Roosevelt's current school was built after the Emerson school strike in 1927. After a small group of black students were transferred to Emerson due to overcrowding, many white students refused to attend Emerson.
"That episode turned into one that engaged most of Gary's residents in discussions and debates about segregation in the Gary schools," McShane said.
Now called Roosevelt College and Career Academy, the school has a long and storied history, said Annie May, 69, who graduated from the high school in 1964.
May, president of the National Roosevelt Alumni Association, led the effort to get the school named as a national historic site and an Indiana Landmark and worked with Abell on getting the designation.
Retired Gary police Officer Glenn Trammell, who graduated from Roosevelt in 1962, said school pride is embedded in every student who graduated from Roosevelt.
"We were one of the top schools in the nation for academics and athletics," he said.
"We've had some fantastic people who graduated from Roosevelt," Trammell said.
Among them were basketball players Dick Barnett and Lee Calhoun along with actors Avery Brooks and William Marshall.
"Things have changed over the years. It really saddens me when I come through here nowadays," Trammell said. "It's hard for me to understand the kids who go here today. They don't know the history of Roosevelt. If they did, maybe they would take more pride in the school."
Trammell and May recently toured the building with other Roosevelt alumni including Gwendolyn Hemphill, 70, Labrada Smith Dunham, 63, Reuben Hill, 67, Tracy Parker Williams, 48, and Giselle Jones.
Jones returned to the school working as student engagement director. Gary Roosevelt is run by EdisonLearning, a private company tasked by the state to improve the academically underperforming school.
Hemphill said what makes Roosevelt so special is the pride.
"It's been in my genes for many years. It's in my blood," Hemphill said. "My daughter graduated from Roosevelt in 1985. She will celebrate her 30th class reunion next year. I lived in Miller, but she couldn't go to any other school except Roosevelt. (Principal H.) Theo Tatum imported only the best teachers from all over the United States to come here. Roosevelt is about us," Hemphill said.
Tatum was principal from 1933-61.
Roosevelt was about family, May said.
"Everybody watched out for everyone else," she said.
"Even today, anything that I need to know I can pick up the phone and call one of my classmates. I have the Indiana Supreme Court Justice's (Robert Rucker) cellphone number. I can call Dr. Maurice Harvey if I need to know something. We have a personal relationship."
Williams said it didn't matter when you graduated, if you were a Roosevelt grad, you were greeted with hugs -- and kisses.
"If somebody dies, we're all there," Williams said. "We support each other. We recently had a Roosevelt alumni dance, and about 1,500 people came. That was done by word of mouth."
Even in the 1980s, Jones said there was excitement when you became a Roosevelt Panther.
"There was an expectation about the type of future you would have as a Roosevelt grad," she said.
"It was about what you could give back to the community," Jones said. "Our parents didn't have to tell us things like pull up your pants or don't wear dresses that are too short."
It was an "overall atmosphere," she said.
"You didn't disrespect your elders. You didn't disrespect your teachers. If you wanted to remain in this school, you had to meet that expectation."
Trammell said teachers and parents were leaders. He said he grew up without a father in the home, and teachers like Ida B. King helped to mold him.
"Theo Tatum, as the leader of this school, was the catalyst. He was the one who made sure the teachers did what they were supposed to do," Trammell said.
As Trammell walked through the building, he said the metal detectors at the doors bothered him. He said they never even had security when he was a student.
Hill said they didn't have new books at the school, but, as the only black school, used old books from other schools in Gary.
"You might get a book from another student and see where someone had highlighted some passages in the book. You knew that was the good stuff and you needed to know it," he said with a chuckle.
The grads walked up and down the hallway, pointing out a typing classroom, a band room or a section where lockers used to be that is now bare.
"This is sad, really sad," Trammell said as he looked down on what used to be called the girls' gym that isn't being used by the current student body.
A couple of basketballs were in the corner, along with layers of dust. A few lockers were open on the third floor, also not in use. In almost every classroom on the third floor, there were hundreds of books, the vast majority in good condition -- some still boxed.
Another classroom was filled with computers and monitors sitting haphazardly on the floor and on top of one another, while globes were stacked on file cabinets.
Jones said Gary Community School Corp. left the materials and equipment, and EdisonLearning is not allowed to use it.
EdisonLearning was tasked to operate the school three years ago. The company has 600 students and doesn't use the third floor. Several sections of the building are blocked off.
The school corporation and EdisonLearning had an acrimonious relationship up until a few weeks ago when Gary Schools Superintendent Cheryl Pruitt and EdisonLearning CEO Thom Jackson began working together. They are developing a five-year plan to improve education in Gary.
Hill said his class often sponsored activities but as he and his classmates began to age, they wanted to turn the reins over to a younger group.
"Unfortunately, some of the younger generation were leaving the area," he said.
"We sent our kids off to college and encouraged them to leave instead of telling them to come back and create something here."
Dunham said her son, an engineer, is an example of someone who wanted to return and give back but couldn't get a job locally. She said he has been successful in Chicago, not in his own community.
Another issue, grads say, is fear.
Jones said she wanted her own children to attend Roosevelt but was worried about the fighting and unrest in the building.
"When you try and come to basketball games or other activities and see things break out, it makes you fearful," Jones said. "There are others who felt the same way," she said, adding some of that has dissipated under EdisonLearning, which continues to work to improve student behavior.
Benjamin Starkey, a paraprofessional in a special education classroom, said his father taught years ago at Horace Mann, and his mother taught at Roosevelt a couple of years ago.
"I have always been fascinated with the history of Gary and Roosevelt High School," he said.
"My grandparents grew up in Gary," Starkey said. "I talk to the kids sometimes about Roosevelt's history. They don't know anything about it. They don't know why this school was built. ... There is a lot of history between these walls."
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