Wendall Phillips Academy High School
244 E Pershing Road (Bronzeville)
Architect William Bryce Mundie design this Classical Revival building, which was built in 1904. William Bryce Mundie. The school was named for Wendell Phillips (1811-1884), the staunch abolitionist who was one of the leading figures in the American anti-slavery movement. Early yearbooks portray a racial mix in the student body, but by 1920 the school had become Chicago's first predominately African-American high school. The high school has graduated dozens of notable public figures in a wide variety of fields, including literature. Many of these accomplished graduates are honored in the Wendell Phillips Hall of Fame.Three Chicago Literary Hall of Fame inductees--Timuel Black, Jr., Gwendolyn Brooks, and John H. Johnson—attended the school, as did a host of incredible singer/songwriters, including Sam Cooke, Dinah Washington, and Nat King Cole. A short bit of the 1920s standard “Sweet Georgia Brown” plays at the school just before the class bell rings, an homage to the Harlem Globetrotters, whose original 1926 team featured mostly Phillips High School graduates. On the first floor, there is a Hall of Fame exhibit that includes many of these alumni; on the second floor, there is a mural with some of these people as well as a former principal. This was designated a Chicago Landmark on May 7, 2003.
