Dunbar Vocational High School (also known as Dunbar Vocational Career Academy, or DVCA) is a public 4–year vocational high school located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Dunbar opened in 1942 and is operated by the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) district. The school is named in honor of the African American poet, novelist, and playwright Paul Laurence Dunbar.

​

Beginning History Highlights​

September 1942 as a Dunbar Trade School, the school was created to provide skill workers for the war. The school was considered a "vocational branch" of Wendell Phillips High School, considering both schools were majority African American.

In 1946, the Chicago Public Schools changed the trade school into a public high school, accepting ninth-grade students in January of that year. The location was in a former elementary school building located at 4401 South St. Lawrence Avenue with two mobile classrooms utilized as vocational shops.

In 1952, due to overcrowding, the Chicago Board of Education decided that a new school building was needed.

In 1954, A new site was located at 3000 South Parkway Avenue (now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive) and the building was built for seven million dollars.

 April 1955 with Chicago school officials and then newly elected Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley a groundbreaking was held, and construction began.

In 1956-57 the new Dunbar Vocational High School building was opened for students.

By 1962, the year of the school's 20th anniversary, the enrollment was at 2,300 and included students taking night classes and drop-outs enrolled in trade classes.

Shortly after opening, the Social Room a large room for meetings was named in honor of Nellie Wolfe a possible benefactor to the new school.

Reference: Dunbar Vocational High School - Wikipedia

dvca--cps.org