Frederick Douglass High School
2301 Gwynns Falls Pky, Baltimore, MD, 21217-1339 - Map Map

School Overview:
Definition of Terms
Frederick Douglass High School
School Level High school
Grades Offered Grades 9 - 12
County Baltimore City County, MD
Students & Faculty
Total Students 1151 students
% Male / % Female 48%  /  52%
Total Classroom Teachers 59 teachers
Students by Grade
Grade 9 - 491 students
Grade 10 - 233 students
Grade 11 - 212 students
Grade 12 - 215 students
This School
(MD) School Average
Teacher : Student Ratio 1:20 1:17
Students by Ethnicity
This School
(MD) School Average
% American Indian n/a n/a
% Asian n/a 3%
% Hispanic n/a 4%
% Black 99% 34%
% White 1% 48%
Additional Student Information
This School
(MD) School Average
% Eligible for Free Lunch 56% 16%
% Eligible for Reduced Lunch 4% 5%
% Migrant Students Enrolled n/a n/a
School Performance:
(MD) Statewide Testing Performance
School Statewide Performance View Education Department Test Scores
School District:
School District Name Baltimore City Public s School District
This School's Agency
(MD) District Average
Number of Schools Managed 197 28
Number of Students Managed 90,946 students 17,295 students
District Total Revenue $1,036,293,000 $171,909,000
District Expenditure $970,898,000 $168,429,000
District Revenue / Student $11,395 $9,940
District Expenditure / Student $10,676 $9,739
District Graduation Rates 61% 86%
In the News:
  • U.S. stimulus funds prompt quicker area school renovations (Baltimore Sun)
    posted on November 7, 2009 at 11:35:12 am
    Fueled by federal stimulus dollars, school districts in Baltimore City and Baltimore County are speeding up construction projects that have been on hold for years for lack of funding, including the possible construction of the first new city school in a decade.
  • U.S. stimulus funds prompt quicker city, county school renovations (Baltimore Sun)
    posted on November 7, 2009 at 09:39:02 am
    School districts in Baltimore City and Baltimore County are speeding up construction projects that have been on hold for years, including the possible construction of the first new city school in a decade
  • Utah Utes football: Smithson nominated for Courage Award (Deseret News)
    posted on November 5, 2009 at 04:37:31 am
    Utah's Antoine "Shaky" Smithson is the weekly nominee for the 2009 FedEx Orange Bowl-FWAA Courage Award, to be announced at...
  • John E. Mohamed, city school principal (Baltimore Sun)
    posted on October 27, 2009 at 07:28:18 am
    Longtime principal of Baltimore's Southeast Middle School remembered for his professionalism and love of education J ohn E. Mohamed, a longtime city public school educator who had been principal of Southeast Middle School for nearly two decades, died of pneumonia Wednesday.
  • Rodney S. Evans Sr., liquor store owner (Baltimore Sun)
    posted on October 12, 2009 at 07:30:15 am
    Owner of East Baltimore liquor store who was past president of the Monument Street Merchants Association Rodney Spencer Evans Sr., who owned an East Baltimore liquor business and was active in a local business group, died of cancer Oct. 2 at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Forest Park resident was 62.
View all past news stories
School Notes:
  • Frederick Douglass Senior High School known locally as Douglass is a public high school located in Baltimore, Maryland, US. Established in 1883 as the Colored High and Training School, Douglass is the second oldest historically integrated public high school in the United States. Prior to desegregation Douglass and Baltimore's Paul Laurence Dunbar High School were the only two high schools in Baltimore that admitted African American students. Douglass served African American students from west Baltimore, while Dunbar served students from east Baltimore. Among Douglass' most notable alumni is Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. A graduate of the class of 1926, in 1954 Marshall successfully challenged school segregation as a lawyer in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, in which the Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal in public education was unconstitutional because it could never truly be equal. The school remains overwhelmingly majority African American and Douglass is one of the eleven lowest performing schools in the state of Maryland.
  • History
  • Named the "Colored High and Training School," Douglass was founded in 1883 and was the only high school for African Americans in the City of Baltimore until Dunbar opened its doors in 1937. On June 22, 1894, Frederick Douglass gave a commencement address at the school in which he said:
    "The colored people of this country have, I think, made a great mistake, of late, in saying so much of race and color as a basis of their claims to justice, and as the chief motive of their efforts and action. I have always attached more importance to manhood than to mere identity with any variety of the human family..." "We should never forget that the ablest and most eloquent voices ever raised in behalf of the black man’s cause were the voices of white men. Not for race, not for color, but for men and for manhood they labored, fought, and died. Away, then, with the nonsense that a man must be black to be true to the rights of black men."
  • In 1900, the school moved from Saratoga Street near Charles Street, where it had been housed since 1889, to a building on the corner of Dolphin Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. In 1900 the Baltimore City Public School System initiated a one-year training course for African American elementary school teachers, as a result Coppin State University, an HBCU Historically Black Colleges and Universities was founded at Douglass High School. In 1907 Coppin appointed its own principal and formally separated from the high school. In 1938 the curriculum was lengthened to four years and the college began to grant Bachelor's of Science degrees. In 1925 the school's name was formally changed to Frederick Douglass High School. The name change was the result of the subsequent move to the school's third location a new site at Calhoun and Baker Streets. That same year the first class entered the new institution and for the first time in Baltimore, black students had a gymnasium, a library, and cafeteria. During the 40s and 50s Douglass produced dozens of notable alumni including civil rights activists Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr.,Juanita Jackson Mitchell, Lillie Mae Carroll Jackson, jazz legends Cab Calloway, Chick Webb, Ethel Ennis and opera star Veronica Tyler. Douglass is currently located on Gwynn's Fall Pkwy in the old Western High School (the old Eastern High School twin building) across the street from Coppin's campus.
  • In 2008 Frederick Douglass was the subject of an HBO documentary: "Hard Times at Douglass High: A No Child Left Behind Report Card" directed by Oscar award winning filmmakers Alan Raymond and Susan Raymond, which was recorded in the 2004-2005 school year, highlights the past academic and financial struggles of the school under the No Child Left Behind Act.
  • Demographics
  • Douglass high school, as of 2007, had 1,151 students, of which 52% were female. African American students made up 99% of the total student population with 53% qualifying for free lunch. The school has 59 teachers for a 1:20 teacher per pupil ratio. The break down of students per grade was:
  • Grade 9 - 491 students
  • Grade 10 - 233 students
  • Grade 11 - 212 students
  • Grade 12 - 215 students
  • Notable alumni
  • Clarence W. Blount, first African American Majority leader (1983-2003), Maryland State Senate
  • Roger W. Brown, Judge, Circuit Court for Baltimore City (1987-2002)
  • Cab Calloway, jazz singer, band leader
  • Paula Campbell, recording artist
  • Harry A. Cole, first African-American elected to the Maryland General Assembly
  • Frank M. Conaway, Clerk of Circuit Court, Baltimore City (1998-present), Delegate, District 4 (Baltimore City),
  • Arrie Davis, Judge, Maryland Court of Special Appeals
  • Ethel Ennis, jazz singer
  • Dru Hill,R&B recording group sensation
  • Lillie Mae Carroll Jackson, veteran civil rights activist, founder Baltimore branch NAACP
  • Labtekwon, hip hop artist
  • Thurgood Marshall, Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
  • Kweisi Mfume, U.S. Congressman (1987-1996), former President/CEO, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
  • Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr., civil rights activist, namesake Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Courthouse
  • Juanita Jackson Mitchell, civil rights activist, lawyer, first African American female to practice law in Maryland
  • Parren Mitchell, U.S. Congressman (1971-1987)
  • Margaret "Peggy" Murphy, first black woman to chair the Baltimore City Delegation
  • Pete Rawlings, Appropriations chairman, Maryland House of Delegates
  • Bishop L. Robinson, First African American police commissioner of Baltimore, Maryland
  • George Levi Russell, Jr., Judge, Circuit Court, Baltimore City
  • Chick Webb, Jazz drummer, band leader
  • Agnes B. Welch, Baltimore City Council (District 4, 1983-2002) (District 9, 2002-present).
  • External links
  • School profile
  • Hard Times at Douglass High - film
  • Source: Wikipedia; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.
  • Add/edit information about this school (e.g., awards, news stories, notable alumni, fun facts)
 
School Zip Code:
About This Zip Code (21217)
School Zip (21217)
(MD) State Average
Population (Approximate) 41,636 people 5,133,067 people
% (age 25+) w/College Degree 17% 32%
Population Average Age 34 years old 36 years old
Average Household size 2.4 persons 2.5 persons
Median Household Income $20,637 $51,114
Avg. # of Rooms in Household 5.3 rooms 6.0 rooms
Median Age of Housing Structure 70 years old 42 years old
View Current Housing Listings View current housing listings in this area
Median Value of Housing Unit
Zipcode (21217)


Zillow Median Value of Housing Unit
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Zillow Median Value of Housing Unit
% Owning / % Renting 30% / 70% 65% / 35%
School Map:
1. William S. Baer School - 239 students - 0.3 mi. away - view location
2. Coppin Academy - 114 students - 0.4 mi. away - view location
3. Carver Vocational-technical High School - 1283 students - 0.7 mi. away - view location
4. Youth Education Academy At Woodbourne - n/a - 0.7 mi. away - view location
5. Walbrook High School - 1272 students - 1.2 mi. away - view location
View all schools in: Baltimore, Baltimore City County, Zip 21217 
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Note: Data has been gathered from several government and commercial data sources. School data reflects 2006 statistics (most recent year available).

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