George Washington Carver Museum Captures Black Alumni Oral Histories

In a captivating tribute to resilience and triumph over inequality, the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center presents the Carver High School: Alumni Oral History Series. Premiering March 14 on the museum’s YouTube channel, the series marks the beginning of an organizational initiative to document and preserve alumni oral histories that would otherwise be lost to future generations. 

The George Washington Carver High School, formally named the Phoenix Union Colored High School, is significant for its role in African American history in Arizona. It was the only high school in the state built explicitly for the segregation of African Americans. Carver High School strived to provide a robust academic environment and produced several notable graduates. The historic building is one of the few remaining structures built for African Americans during enforced segregation and became the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center in 1996.

Through recorded video interviews, four alumni of the once-segregated George Washington Carver High School articulate their experiences, challenges and victories they achieved during their time as students, as well as throughout their personal lives and careers. Their oral histories shed light on their remarkable journeys against the backdrop of adversity and offer insight into a pivotal period of Phoenix’s history during the segregation era. 

The series captures the unfiltered narratives of Dr. Frederick Warren, Vera Alice Randolph, Ruth Ann Payne Franklin and Barbara Crane, who navigated and excelled in an environment steeped in inequality. Three of the interviewed alums are women, and through this oral history series, the unique experiences of Black women growing up in Phoenix and the additional barriers they faced to succeed academically and professionally are recorded in posterity.

This series is made possible through the collaborative efforts and funding support of Public Allies Arizona and Arizona State University’s Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation. 

To watch the Carver High School: Alumni Oral History Series, visit youtube.com/@carvermuseumphx. 

For more behind this Frontdoor, visit carveraz.org.