CORTEZ PETERS WORLD TYPING CHAMPION OPENED FIRST BLACK VOCATIONAL COLLEGE

Blog by +Wanda Dorn        adornstudios.org       #wandascafe

Cortez W. Peters Founder of Cortez Peters Business Colleges in Washington, Baltimore and Chicago
 He sold his own typewriters and donated typewriters for the war effort

World Typing Champion Cortez W. Peters Opens First African American Business College and Vocational institution in the Nation's Capital, Washington, D. C.

The 1934, Cortez W. Peters Business School in Washington, D.C. was an important contribution to American history.   It was the first Black-owned business and vocational institution to fully prepare African Americans for business and civil service.  It is reported that W. Emile Jennifer, another African American, opened the first Black Business College in 1920.

Peters later opened branches in Baltimore and in Chicago where I attended school as a Court Reporter Stenographer student, and I was truly in awe of the genius of this pioneer.  The three schools trained an estimated 100,000 students over a period of 40 years.

At the age of 11, Peters taught himself to type when his dad, a watchmaker, received a used typewriter in trade.  Peters began using the “hunt and peck” system, then developed his own method for typing fast and accurately. This technique became the heart of the curriculum at the Cortez W. Peters Business Schools.  He began entering local typing competitions and went on to become a world champion typist.

Cortez would often hold demonstrations for students and public spectators

In 1940, a newspaper ad for the school used the slogan, “Speed’s the Thing,” adding “the school will prepare and train students in commercial subjects including type-writing, shorthand, filing and all related subjects as well as preparation for Government Civil Service Examinations. . .Tuition reasonable and payable weekly. . .If you plan to purchase a typewriter, do not fail to see those on display at the Cortez W. Peters School. . .When you purchase a machine from us, you are taught how to use it.”  Eventually, the school's curriculum expanded to 22 subjects including Salesmanship, Business Law and IBM Card Punch.  

Wanda - a Court Reporting Stenographer student
first at Peters, this photo is at another college later

After Cortez, Sr. died of a heart attack in 1964, his son, Cortez W. Peters, Jr. became president of the school.  Like his dad, Peters, Jr. was a champion typist reaching speeds up to 130-140 wpm.  He even set a record for typing in excess of 99 wpm while wearing mittens!  Becoming known as "The fastest typist in the world"!

I only reached the typing speed of 100 wpm -  but no gloves, and 250 wpm shorthand on the steno machine!  I also reached 120 wpm in Pitman handwritten shorthand.  Does anyone out there remember Gregg or Pitman Shorthand?

When the schools closed in the 1970s, Peters, Jr. began writing textbooks, consulting for other business schools and holding typing seminars throughout the country.  Peters, Jr. died on June 24, 1993 from a heart attack in Columbia, Mo. where he had been conducting a seminar on typing, shorthand and other clerical skills.

I stumbled across Lillian Cox's "The Washington Secretaries History Project" blog, which inspired me to blog and share about a great person that influenced my life.  I couldn't believe someone had the insight to document another such important African American pioneer as Cortez Peters.  All young people of all ethnicities need to hear Black history of how one man took a salvaged item and turned it into an instrument that helped 100,000 students.  Young people, this is the story of real Black men, not the negative few that seem to make the press daily.

Wanda - when she was working as a Court Reporter 

See Lillian Cox
blog for full story