Today the building houses a number of small, specialized public schools, but it was originally one huge high school, drawing from many Bronx neighborhoods. It awarded academic diplomas, general diplomas, practical arts diplomas, and commercial diplomas.
Mom and Auntie graduated in January, 1936 (see bottom, where their names are listed in the graduation program she saved). They were just 16. Mom immediately looked for work. Her older brother Fred had gone to college (one of the free City University of NY colleges) but there was only enough money for one more to go to college, so Auntie went (to another free City University of NY college) and Mom didn't. Both Fred and Dorothy went on to earn a doctorate degree. To see Mom and Auntie's yearbook photos, click:
View post on imgur.com
Mom, who could have done the course work in her teens, only finished a couple of years of college by the time she went at night as a working mom in her 50s. The math and science courses were, by that time, beyond her. She loved the literature courses most of all!
Hi, I'm the current librarian at the (former)James Monroe HS. I was just doing a little research on the history of the school and came across your post. I have the Jan 1936 yearbook and thought I'd share their yearbook picture in case you didn't have it: http://imgur.com/uZdmjvH
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for reading and sending me this photo! I really appreciate it. I have my mother's diplomas from Monroe HS. One is to show she completed the "academic course of four years" and the other is a "college entrance diploma" from the University of the State of NY Education Dept, saying she had completed her studies at Monroe H.S. Would you like high-quality scans of these documents?
ReplyDelete