HBCU All-stars bring spotlight to Carver Museum, former Phoenix Union Colored High School

Beyond the mammy dolls, past the icebox and typewriters and Wurlitzer jukebox, antique trophies of all shapes and sizes line the walls of a dim back room at the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center, the long-forgotten athletic achievements of Phoenix high school children segregated from society because of the color of their skin.

The keepsakes won’t remain hidden for long.

“I don’t know if I’m even allowed to announce it yet,” said Brenda Thomson, the Carver Museum president and executive director of Arizona Humanities, “but we’re going to be making sure that the first wing on the right side when you come in is going to be a sports exhibit. And it’s not going to just be about famous people or rich people or people that are alive right now, it’s going to be about these award-winning athletes. These scrappy kids who came from nowhere, who had nothing, and who won state trophies.”

Down the hall, hundreds gathered around banquet tables on a basketball court in the nearly century-old gymnasium, where marginalized Black children once played and danced and grew into young adults at the Phoenix Union Colored High School, built on an industrial landfill in 1925.

The HBCU All-Stars Tip-Off Celebration and Awards ceremony on Wednesday night at Carver was part of the festivities surrounding the third annual HBCU All-Star Game at 1 p.m. Sunday at GCU Arena, which will broadcast live on CBS. The banquet honored the contributions and talents of HBCU student-athletes and coaches representing the “Best in Black College Basketball.”

Community award honorees included Jean Boyd, the deputy athletics director at Arizona State; Latasha Causey, the president of Phoenix Raceway; Jerry Colangelo for lifetime achievement; Wanda and Kevin Durant for their humanitarian work; Gina Marie Scarpa, the president and co-founder of the Native American Basketball Invitational; business executive and strategist Vada Manager for his leadership; and the late DJ Super Snake, who was honored for inspiration.

But the star of the show was the profound venue itself.

“It was facilities like this that paved the way for me to be a part of what we’re doing in this space, all these years later,” said Travis L. Williams, the CEO, founder and executive director of HBCU All-Stars LLC. “This facility shows why it matters, the history and legacy, and making a better place, bringing this national spotlight to it, that’s important. We get an opportunity to really amplify this building, the people, the culture, and we’re going to do that.”

The Phoenix Union Colored High School was built at 415 East Grant Street — a short walk from Chase Field today —and opened in 1926. It was poorly furnished with used books and equipment from other schools.

It was renamed the George Washington Carver High School in honor of the renowned American educator and scientist – who was born a slave – upon his death in 1943 and shuttered when Phoenix schools desegregated in 1954.

The Phoenix Monarchs Alumni Association purchased the building in 1996 to create a community resource and renamed it the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center.

Williams co-founded HBCU All-Stars LLC, a sports marketing, events, and media company, in 2019 to showcase the “Best in Black College Basketball” and bring exposure and recognition to Historically Black Colleges and Universities during Final Four weekend.

Thomson, a Yale graduate, previously directed The Center for Law Leadership and Management at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State and was the executive director of the Maricopa County Bar Association.

“I think what’s really important is that people understand that what uplifts people, no matter what color they are, is an education,” Thomson said. “When I think about historically Black colleges, I think about campuses that are dedicated to developing people’s character, their intellect, removing barriers so that they can become the best person, and the world benefits.

“When I think about a place like Carver, it may have been a segregated community, it may have been a segregated school, there might have been redlines. It didn’t matter. The best and the brightest graduated from this school. Teachers came here. Those children were treated with love. And they understood that they had to give back to the community, to not just uplift yourself, but to uplift others.”

Thomson joined the Carver Museum and Cultural Center in 2020 and has grand visions for its future as a community gathering venue and place of learning.

“There are people that have lived here their whole lives, and I’ve met them, they’ve never heard of Carver. They never set foot in Carver. They didn’t know it existed,” she said. “Anyone is welcome here. Anyone is welcome to learn. People have passed every day and they say, ‘What is this place?’

“You’re welcome to come inside.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: HBCU All-stars spotlight Carver Museum, Phoenix Union Colored School