Each January, the Park Hill School District, located in the greater Kansas City area, holds a Hall of Fame induction for distinguished alumni. This ceremony also recognizes students, business and community partners, a super booster, and DEIB Champions.
This year, GKCBHSG member Ms. Lucille Douglass was designated a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Champion in recognition of her tremendous service to the Park Hill District and the Parkville, MO Community. Douglas is a well-known community activist whose contributions in many areas are widely acknowledged. She is a central figure in The Banneker School Foundation and Historic Site project. After 40 years of dedication and community support, the historic Banneker School in Parkville, Missouri, was restored.
Construction for the original Banneker School commenced in 1885. Prior to that time, post-Civil War African American children in the Parkville area were educated in the basement of Parkville’s Missouri Valley Hotel, then in Park College’s Bergen Hall. It was determined that the scholars needed their own facility, and land previously purchased by Park College was allocated for the construction of a one-room school for the specific purpose of educating African American children. Students at Park College (now Park University) created the bricks in the College kilns.
The school was named for Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), an African American who was a largely self-educated mathematician, astronomer, compiler of almanacs, and farmer. He helped survey territory for the U.S. capital in Washington D.C. In the 1980s, Mrs. Lucille S. Douglass, who taught at the subsequent Banneker School in the 1940s, discovered that a developer had purchased the original Banneker School and planned to demolish the structure. It was her foresight and leadership that led to this critical juncture of its restoration. She was able to purchase the property from the developer and deeded the property to the Platte County Historical Society. Lucille S. Douglass is the mother of awardee Lucille Douglass. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 for its significance to Ethnic Heritage – Black Education. On Saturday, October 25, 2025, the Banneker School Foundation and Historic Site officially celebrated the completion of the school’s restoration with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The Greater Kansas City Black History Study Group extends our congratulations to our member, Ms Lucille Douglass, on this well-deserved honor. Her work to preserve Banneker and its legacy supports the ASALH mission, which includes preserving Black History.
Shown are:
1)Dr. Terri Deayon-Chief Access and Inclusion Officer, Superintendent-Dr. Mike Kimbrel, and awardee Ms. Lucille Douglass; 2) Superintendent-Dr. Mike Kimbrel and Ms. Douglass; 3) Ms. Douglass
