Peggy Jean (Thompson) Harrison was born to Edward and Dorothy (Butler) Thompson in Salina, Kansas in 1923. She attended Dunbar School, a K-8 school specifically built for African American children in the community. There she enjoyed oratorial contests, musicals, and drama programs. After attending Washington High School in Salina, Peggy Thompson went to C.J. Walker’s College of Beauty Culture in Kansas City, Missouri and worked in Junction City, Kansas at a beauty salon on 9th street near popular jazz venues.

Harrison later returned to Salina with her children, Wayne, Jennifer, and Ricky Rodgers, supporting them with domestic and waitressing work. When the 1965 Higher Education Act, a part of President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty,” increased funding for education, she was able to complete both her GED and associate degree, the latter from the Brown Mackie Business School. Furthering her education helped her gain employment at the local Social Security Office and at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina.

Harrison attended the Quayle Methodist Church, singing in the choir and leading the youth and women’s groups. Under the leadership of African American minister Reverend Whalon Blackman she encouraged white students from Kansas Wesleyan to become involved with the church. In the 1960s she helped organize a march in Salina to raise awareness about civil rights protests in the South.

In 1969, with the help of a grant from the United Methodist Church Conference, Harrison joined several African American community organizers to create the Black American Citizens Organization of Salina, Inc. (BACOS), which had a mission “to fight poverty, build a better community, and strive for unity among African Americans and their brothers.” They published a newspaper called The Black Word Is....

In 1977 Peggy married Royer D. Harrison and moved to Topeka, Kansas. R.D. Harrison was employed by the Topeka State Hospital and Peggy Harrison found employment at the Topeka Job Service Center for the Kansas Department of Human Resources. Harrison joined the University United Methodist Church and became an active member of the United Methodist Women, for whom she created an annual Black History Program.

Peggy Harrison continued promoting and sharing the African American experience in Salina by helping to organize the Dunbar School Alumni Association, Inc. (DSAA) in 1993. Former Dunbar students held a reunion in 1991, and many were concerned that the school’s history would be lost. DSAA was formed to preserve the school's history and legacy, holding reunions every 3 years. Harrison served as board president 5 times and as the planning committee chair for several years. She was known as “The General” for her unrelenting organizing skills and her ability to “rally the troops” to get work done.

The DSAA got the Dunbar School building declared a Local Historic Landmark by the city of Salina Heritage Commission in 1998. The DSAA funded, designed, and placed a historic marker in front of the building at 509 East Elm Street in 2000.

Harrison also organized The Black Women’s Network, Inc. which had a mission “to promote communication and cooperation among African American women by providing assistance and leadership designed to enhance and improve the status of their members.” Harrison oversaw the creation of a scholarship to assist women furthering their education. In addition, she volunteered in the Topeka Public School system for 20 years beginning in the 1990s.

Harrison continued to stuff envelopes and edit school newsletters even after disability required her to live in a nursing home. Peggy Harrison passed away in 2022. Her daughter, former elementary school principal Dr. Jennifer Gordon, remains active in the Dunbar School Alumni Association.

[Information pulled from collection materials, including Peggy Harrison’s memorial program.]

The Paul Laurence Dunbar School was established in 1922 by the Salina Board of Education as a kindergarden through 8th grade school for African American children in Salina, Kansas. The city had surpassed 15,000 residents in 1920, making it a "first class" city. This authorized the city to maintain separate schools for white and African American children, under General Statutes of Kansas 1879 and Kansas Laws 1919 to 1920. The school board held a special election in 1921, and the bond to fund the first segregated school in Salina passed by less than 500 votes (1495 for/1032 against).

The school was named in honor of African American author and poet Paul Laurence Dunbar and employed 6 African American teachers and a principal. Robert C. Caldwell, a teacher and a principal at the school, went on to serve three terms as Salina’s first African American mayor and was subsequently elected to the Kansas state legislature.

Soon after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling that stated "separate but equal" education violated the 14th Constitutional Amendment, Dunbar, along with similar schools in Kansas and in 20 other states, became integrated. Dunbar closed in 1955 due to declining enrollment. The St. Francis Academy purchased the building in 1958. In 2023 the building was sold to the Central Kansas Foundation (CFK) Addiction Treatment, Inc.

The Dunbar School Alumni Association, Inc. (DSAA) worked to have the Dunbar School building declared a Local Historic Landmark by the city of Salina Heritage Commission in 1998. The DSAA placed a historical marker in front of the school building in 2000.

[Information pulled from collection materials, including the text of the Dunbar School historical marker erected at the site, 509 East Elm Street, Salina, Kansas; and saintfrancisministries.org.]