“The Annual” 1916
- [Hutchinson, Kansas]: The Senior Class, Hutchinson High School, 1916
[Hutchinson, Kansas]: The Senior Class, Hutchinson High School, 1916. Very good -. 10½” x 8”. Thin card wrappers, two-hole punched and string-tied. Pp. [98, 34 (ads)]. Very good minus due to wrappers lightly sunned and edgeworn with moderate diagonal crease and old tape repair to spine; internally very good plus, save a few final leaves of ads adhered at top edge.
This is a rare early yearbook of Hutchinson High School (HHS) in Kansas, revealing the sole African American graduate of 1916, Chester Lewis, who went on to be a pioneering newspaper owner and editor.
The senior portraits in this yearbook appear out of alphabetical order, and we can't help but wonder if this was done on purpose so as to print the only Black graduate dead last. The quote by Chester Lewis' name reads, “An earnest, honest ambition will overcome obstacles and lift the owner high” and he stayed true to that throughout his life. In 1919 Lewis bought the Hutchinson Blade, considered one of the “leading newspapers in Kansas and one of the largest,” and he was touted as the “youngest Negro Newspaper Editor in the Nation.” He served in the army and got a college degree in journalism. Lewis sold the newspaper in the later 1920s and became a Baptist deacon, but bought it back in 1947, when it became a family affair: his wife, a college graduate and teacher, served on staff, and their son Chester Lewis Jr. became the business manager. Lewis Jr. went on to be a prominent civil rights lawyer, president of the Wichita chapter of the NAACP and a force for desegregation in Kansas. Inspired by a photo his father had run in the Blade of the only pool in Hutchinson available to African Americans, overrun with algae with no room for swimmers, Lewis Jr. brought the first civil rights suit against the city of Wichita in 1953 – over the denial of access to pools – and won. A plaza in Hutchinson is named in his honor.
We don't see any other images of Lewis in the book, but he was included in the jocular senior lists, one of which noted his “favorite expression” – “I have got my history, have you?” The rest contains standard yearbook fare, including unidentified group portraits of the lower classes, lists and images of faculty, student clubs and activities on campus. There is also an image of William Jennings Bryan, who spoke at the school that year.
OCLC shows only scarce holdings of HHS yearbooks from 1944 and later at the Wichita Public Library. Chester Lewis Jr.'s papers are held at the University of Kansas.
This is a rare early yearbook of Hutchinson High School (HHS) in Kansas, revealing the sole African American graduate of 1916, Chester Lewis, who went on to be a pioneering newspaper owner and editor.
The senior portraits in this yearbook appear out of alphabetical order, and we can't help but wonder if this was done on purpose so as to print the only Black graduate dead last. The quote by Chester Lewis' name reads, “An earnest, honest ambition will overcome obstacles and lift the owner high” and he stayed true to that throughout his life. In 1919 Lewis bought the Hutchinson Blade, considered one of the “leading newspapers in Kansas and one of the largest,” and he was touted as the “youngest Negro Newspaper Editor in the Nation.” He served in the army and got a college degree in journalism. Lewis sold the newspaper in the later 1920s and became a Baptist deacon, but bought it back in 1947, when it became a family affair: his wife, a college graduate and teacher, served on staff, and their son Chester Lewis Jr. became the business manager. Lewis Jr. went on to be a prominent civil rights lawyer, president of the Wichita chapter of the NAACP and a force for desegregation in Kansas. Inspired by a photo his father had run in the Blade of the only pool in Hutchinson available to African Americans, overrun with algae with no room for swimmers, Lewis Jr. brought the first civil rights suit against the city of Wichita in 1953 – over the denial of access to pools – and won. A plaza in Hutchinson is named in his honor.
We don't see any other images of Lewis in the book, but he was included in the jocular senior lists, one of which noted his “favorite expression” – “I have got my history, have you?” The rest contains standard yearbook fare, including unidentified group portraits of the lower classes, lists and images of faculty, student clubs and activities on campus. There is also an image of William Jennings Bryan, who spoke at the school that year.
OCLC shows only scarce holdings of HHS yearbooks from 1944 and later at the Wichita Public Library. Chester Lewis Jr.'s papers are held at the University of Kansas.
Details
Title
“The Annual” 1916
Condition
Very Good
Publisher
The Senior Class, Hutchinson High School: [Hutchinson, Kansas]
Date
1916