Before Sumner High School was founded, all Kansas public schools were integrated: In 1884 the Kansas Legislature mandated mixed schools.

 But in spring 1904, a fight between a white youth and a black youth at a baseball game ended in the death of the white youth, a student at Kansas City, Kan., High School.  The tragedy aggravated racial tensions and revived cries from some whites to separate students by race.  The high school temporarily banned blacks from attending, even though the black youth involved had not been a student and the incident had occurred in a city park.

 In response to rising hostilities, community leaders of both races convened at the Carnegie Library.

 Although they ultimately agreed that permanent separation of the city's high school students was the only way to forestall violence against black students, they also adopted a resolution condemning the school ban as unconstitutional.  They demanded black students be restored their rights or the school be closed -.to both races until the Kansas Legislature changed the law.
The black students were reinstated until the next meetings of the Legislature, in January 1905, during which the 1884 law was repealed and House Bill No. 890 was adopted, providing for student segregation in KCK only.

Gov.  E.W. Hoch reluctantly accepted the statute, declaring I have believed from boyhood that black people should have all the rights and privileges under the law enjoyed by whites," He demanded agreement from members of the white KCK community "...that a high school building costing not less than $40,000 and equally as well equipped as the present high school I building' be constructed for the black students.

 Because there wasn't yet a second school, the Board of Education decreed that until a new building could be erected, whites would attend classes in the morning and blacks would attend in the afternoon.  So it went in 1904-05, while the new high school was built.

 In June 1905, after considerable discussion, the name Sumner High School was adopted in honor of Charles Sumner (1819-1874), an eminent scholar, abolitionist and U.S. Senator from Massachusetts whose 1856 anti-slavery speech, "The Crime Against Kansas," nearly cost him his life.  Sumner was beaten into unconsciousness on the Senate floor by Rep. Preston S. Brooks (1819-1857) of South Carolina.

 Sumner High opened that fall at Ninth Street and Washington Boulevard; in 1940 it moved to a new, larger structure at Eighth and Oakland streets.  Regardless of location, Sumner was noted for the high qualifications of its faculty and staff ind the academic achievements of its students.

 Taking as inspiration W.E.B. DuBois' educational philosophy of the "talented tenth,"-the idea that the best and brightest would lead blacks toward full citizenship-Sumner teachers from the outset established the highest standards.  They instilled in their students a determination to overcome inequities that eventually included overcrowded conditions and shortages of equipment and supplies.  The curriculum emphasized college preparatory classes: the classics, mathematics and sciences.  Alumni today credit much of Sumner's success to the leadership of two longtime principals: John A. Hodge, who served from 1916 to 1951, and Solomon H.Thompson, headmaster from 1951 to 1972.

 Sumner faculty members earned a reputation for having, the highest percentage of graduate degrees among KCK  public schools.  As early as 1930, 44 percent of the teachers held not only bachelor's but also master's degrees.  The student body produced a surplus of academic high achievers and became the region's chief source of African-American skilled and professional leaders for most of the 20th century.

 In spring 1978 Sumner High School was closed as part of desegregation.  When the building reopened that fall, it was as Sumner Academy of Arts and Sciences, a magnet school for highly motivated and talented students.  In that respect, the Sumner tradition carries on.