Inside the Dunbar Pavilion on West 2nd Street is a hallway that can put you back in time, as it has the same flooring it had 100 years ago.
“It’s a reminder of what the students endured back then and the potential that the Dunbar has right now,” said Dunbar Pavilion executive director Freda Marshall.
The Dunbar Pavilion is a two-building African American arts and cultural center. It was once where black children in Tucson learned during a time of segregation.
“I can just see the children back then when they had to use books or didn’t have the same resources other schools had.”
The school closed its doors in 1978 and Dunbar Coalition purchased the buildings in 1995. While much of it still needs renovation, today, works is on ongoing on a technology lab that will serve as a launching pad for small businesses.
“It can help seniors take the fear out of artificial intelligence.”
It’s interactive technology many people can’t afford. But, the Dunbar Pavilion still has a long way to go before its functional and beautiful.
“We’re in one of the rooms that are in dire need of restoration and renovation.”
Classrooms have their original chalkboards and they have become dilapidated. The goal of another room is to be restored as an archive center for important cultural items, ones that thanks in art to one-time student turned coalition president, the late Cressworth C. Lander.
“He was kind of like the visionary. He was very hard working and very well respected in the community. He was a very smart man.”
This weekend the Cressworth C. Lander Memorial Golf Tournament will be a fundraiser that will take place at Dell Urich Golf Course.
“The more places that we’re able to renovate, the more opportunity for small businesses to launch, to evolve, and to grow.”
On the National Register of Historic Spaces, the Dunbar Pavilion holds a special place in Tucson’s history.
“We remember the history and we celebrate our present time and we look forward to what is to come in the future for the Dunbar and the African American community in Tucson.”