High school basketball: Star Spencer salutes its heritage, Dunjee Tigers

Mustin and the rest of the Star Spencer boys basketball team donned gold jerseys with “Dunjee” across the front, a salute to the school that was folded into Star Spencer in the fall of 1972.

“It's like we're bringing back history, because Dunjee went through a lot,” said Mustin, who scored eight points in the 85-68 win over ASTEC Charter with some of his family members from Dunjee in attendance. “To represent the people that went to Dunjee is an honor, and I'm just grateful to get to represent them.”

Dunjee held an impactful place in Oklahoma's history through desegregation and the civil rights movement. The school was named for Roscoe Dunjee, who from 1915-55 published The Black Dispatch, a weekly newspaper that included his personal editorials on racism and the pursuit of civil rights.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall delivered the eulogy at Dunjee's funeral in 1965.

“Roscoe Dunjee gave us the inspiration to get the job done. He didn't wait for anybody else,” Marshall said at the service.

“Roscoe could have been the wealthiest man in the world, but he never wanted anything for himself. He wanted for his people.”

Another key figure in the state's civil rights movement, Clara Luper, taught at Dungee High School, and worked with Roscoe Dunjee on the NAACP's youth council, which organized several sit-ins in the late 1950s and early 1960s.