The first public high school for African Americans, the Paul W. Lawrence High School in Washington, D.C. was known for the sterling education given to its students and for the successes they achieved in later life.  Among its famous students are General Benjamin Davis, Sr., Nannie Helen Burroughs, Dr. Charles Drew, Charles Hamilton Houston, Senator Edward Brooke and Elizabeth Catlett.  Notable principals and teachers include  Mary Jane Patterson, Richard T. Greener, Anna Julia Cooper, Christian Fleetwood, Edward C. Williams, Jesse Redmon Fauset, Carter G. Woodson and Mary Gibson Hundley.

Interviewees for the film include Dunbar alumni.  This is the first film produced by Chowan Discovery and was funded in part by the Humanities Council of Washington, D. C. and Chowan Discovery supporters.  The showing is hosted by the District of Columbia Public Library. (25 minutes)

For its annual conference, the Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society is hosting THE CAMPAIGNS OF MOLLY HUNLDEY as a major part of an evening program.  Following the showing, Chowan Discovery’s Marvin T. Jones will take discuss the film.   CAMPAIGNS will be screened at the University of Richmond, Downtown Campus, 626 East Broad Street, (one block from the Richmond Marriott) at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 14. Light refreshments will follow the screening.

From 1921 to 1955, Mrs. Mary Gibson Hundley was an exacting teacher of French and Latin at the famous Dunbar High School in Washingon, D.C.  The films ‘s title reflects Mrs. Hundley’s educational advancement against racism at her college; her drive to encourage students to excel in all ways, the students who were inspired by her; her legal battle against a racially-restricted covenant that evicted her from her home;  and finally, Mrs. Hundley’s campaign to save the historic Dunbar High School building in the 1970’s.

Mrs. Hundley’s unyielding loyalty to her school and high educational standards led her to write a book, The Dunbar Story in 1965.  She encouraged and directed many Dunbar students to attend the best possible colleges in the United States during the Jim Crow era.   The Chowan Discovery Group presents a new film about this extraordinary personality in education.  THE CAMPAIGNS OF MOLLY HUNDLEY tells of her efforts to move students to excellent levels of education and mission, to broaden their choices of colleges during the Jim Crow era, and her own battles against mediocrity and racism.

This is the second Dunbar High film produced by Chowan Discovery.  Both films are funded by the Humanities Council of Washington, D.C. and the Chowan Discovery Group.