Pearl High School, Class of 1929

In the 1920s, the state of Tennessee was mostly rural and did not emphasize schooling. Only three-quarters of children attended school at all, and ninety-five percent of them never went beyond elementary school. No public kindergarten existed; in fact, any child entering school had to be at least seven years old. Vivien Thomas’s parents wanted an excellent education for their children, so they paid tuition for them to go to a private kindergarten at a local historically Black college, Fisk University. When they were older, Vivien and his four siblings attended Pearl High School in Nashville. Although Pearl was segregated, it was an excellent high school, with dedicated and well-educated teachers. Many urban schools for Black children thrived because they received substantial donations from such philanthropic Northerners as John D. Rockefeller (a founder of Standard Oil) and Julius Rosenwald (an owner of Sears, Roebuck).

At Pearl, Vivien Thomas took advantage of its top-rate math and science laboratory classes because he enjoyed the subjects. The classes he selected were a wise choice; he wanted to become a physician after college. When Thomas graduated from Pearl in 1929, he had taken more than the required classes and had earned extra credits, but he was not one of the three who graduated with honors. Although the class had only ninety graduates, the Nashville community was so supportive of the Black students at Pearl that 4,000 people attended their commencement ceremony.  By the time Thomas posed for his graduation picture, he was taller than six feet and he looked elegant in his coat and tie. Notice that someone misspelled his unusual first name in his high school graduation photo.