Selections from the 1971 Cass Tech yearbook

**detroiturbex** · June-16-10, 10:56 PM

When it comes to researching schools of Detroit, finding a yearbook is pretty much solid gold - they're a great source for pictures and history.

The manner in which a yearbook is written and laid out also provides insight into the way that students lived in that time.

Click on the images for a larger image.

That's why I find the 1971 edition of Cass Tech's yearbook - The Triangle - especially interesting.

I have 22 Cass Tech yearbooks I use as sources for my research, from the 60's on up to the present. Most of them are pretty dull: rows of smiling portraits, out-of-focus snapshots of startled faculty, and an increasing reliance on clip art and funky fonts. They're boring. Like most yearbooks are.

But from the moment you open the '71 Triangle, it's different.

From its very first pages, the yearbook is a political / social statement.

I typically page through a yearbook quickly, scan any useful images, and return it to the pile. With this yearbook though, I actually started reading it.

For someone who wasn't even born in, much less lived through the 70's, it's a look at what life was like back then.

What really strikes me though is the attention to detail given to the layout, the hand-drawn illustrations and the content. It's genuinely fascinating.

Rather than being a record of the school year, the yearbook sometimes reads like an open critique of the administration, the school board, the city, and the nation.

The author write of their frustration with the levels of bureaucracy at Cass.

In the pages above, the students are staging a sit-in to kick of a movement to "upgrade Cass with more student power." Below are the list of demands that the "ad-hoc committee for the preservation of Cass" delivered to the principal, and his response.

**detroiturbex** · June-16-10, 10:58 PM

Even the more banal subjects get examined closely.

One of the guest speakers at Cass in 1971 was Nobel laureate Hans Bethe, who gave a discussion on the atomic bombs he had helped designed, and why they should never be used.

In 1971, the US was still deeply involved in the unpopular Vietnam conflict. The authors tread lightly on the subject.

Most revealing, though, are the last pages of the yearbook. In them, the editor acknowledges that their choices in content and tone would not please everyone, but defends them, saying:

"Shortly before taking the yearbook to press in early April, I found myself talking about the yearbook to a Cass graduate. When I mentioned some of the things we were doing I received a reaction that went something like, "You can't do that! When I look back at my yearbook, I don't want to read about anything bad; I just want nice pictures to remember all of the good times by."

Maybe that's all that most of the students really want out of a yearbook; the kind of P.R. snow-job that they usually get [[somewhere between 100-350 pages of smiling
faces, unquestioned praise for the faculty and administration, and a sprinkling of sugar). I suppose that some of the things in this book will upset some of those
people. Yet anything which is worth the paper it's printed on should at least try to be honest and I have but little respect for those who will criticize this book for trying to
say something. At the same time I will join with those who criticize this book for not saying enough and for still being too much jive and not enough journalism.

Hopefully those who are dissatisfied will work in the future to produce a yearbook that really does picture the school the way it is, thus dealing with the problems at
hand. In this way the book may become a media that truly informs students and aids them in their education.

I have scanned the entire yearbook from cover to cover and converted it into a pdf file, which I'll post if there is interest. It's over 200MB.

For more information on Cass, visit the detroiturbex.com series of articles.

**cman710** · June-16-10, 11:20 PM

Detroiturbex, that is a really excellent set of photos on Cass Tech. I have to say that your photographic technique in the Then and Now section is very creative and quite well done. I have never seen a then and now montage done that way, and I am very impressed by your photography and photo editing.

**ct_alum** · June-17-10, 07:01 AM

Yes, the yearbook was a political and social statement and an attempt by W. Kim Heron to get a job in the local media..........................I am Class of '71 [[ACCT) and although I certainly "leaned left" at the time, I didn't agree with using the book as a tool to promote an agenda and an individual. Black & orange? WTF?

Know how the '72 yearbook was promoted? " The green & white yearbook is back!"

That being said, when I went there CT was ranked as one of the 10 best high schools in the country by Parade magazine. It was the original "magnet school"; you met all kinds of people from all over the city and I am proud to say that I graduated from there.

**danofcamden** · June-17-10, 07:26 AM

My yearbook on DetroitYES! Some of friends are in your photos. Art Department '71. Mr Berg, Noyer and the wonderful Mrs Taylor. Those were the days my friend we thought they'd never end. [[cliche I know but true)

**Hermod** · June-17-10, 08:18 AM

Originally Posted by ct_alum

That being said, when I went there CT was ranked as one of the 10 best high schools in the country by Parade magazine. It was the original "magnet school"; you met all kinds of people from all over the city and I am proud to say that I graduated from there.

Cass Tech, Commerce, and Wilbur Wright Aeromechanics were Detroit "jewels" that were destroyed by the DPS bureaucracy.

**detroiturbex** · June-17-10, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by cman710

Detroiturbex, that is a really excellent set of photos on Cass Tech. I have to say that your photographic technique in the Then and Now section is very creative and quite well done. I have never seen a then and now montage done that way, and I am very impressed by your photography and photo editing.

Thanks. There will be more in the very near future.

**detroiturbex** · June-17-10, 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by ct_alum

Yes, the yearbook was a political and social statement and an attempt by W. Kim Heron to get a job in the local media..........................I am Class of '71 [[ACCT) and although I certainly "leaned left" at the time, I didn't agree with using the book as a tool to promote an agenda and an individual. Black & orange? WTF?

Know how the '72 yearbook was promoted? " The green & white yearbook is back!"

That being said, when I went there CT was ranked as one of the 10 best high schools in the country by Parade magazine. It was the original "magnet school"; you met all kinds of people from all over the city and I am proud to say that I graduated from there.

Thanks for this information, it puts things into context. I was wondering why this yearbook was orange instead of green.

**Jimaz** · June-17-10, 11:21 AM

A large part of the melodrama was because of Vietnam. Although about to wind down, the involuntary draft was still weighing very heavily on those kids' minds.

**psubliminal** · June-17-10, 12:09 PM

I collect yearbooks, too, but only have my junior high and high school ones [[John Marshall and John Glenn 1965-1983). The schools let me buy duplicate library copies to supplement the ones I got while attending. I agree there's valuable history in the pages.

I would LOVE to download a pdf file of that '71 Cass yearbook!!

**Hermod** · June-17-10, 12:11 PM

Originally Posted by Jimaz

A large part of the melodrama was because of Vietnam. Although about to wind down, the involuntary draft was still weighing very heavily on those kids' minds.

Yes, you could read through the lines on the protest signs.

":GET US OUT OF VIETNAM" really meant "Keep my sorry ass out of having to go to Vietnam."

**detroiturbex** · June-17-10, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by psubliminal

I collect yearbooks, too, but only have my junior high and high school ones [[John Marshall and John Glenn 1965-1983). The schools let me buy duplicate library copies to supplement the ones I got while attending. I agree there's valuable history in the pages.

I would LOVE to download a pdf file of that '71 Cass yearbook!!

Sent you the link.

**danofcamden** · June-17-10, 08:23 PM

Originally Posted by Hermod

Yes, you could read through the lines on the protest signs.

":GET US OUT OF VIETNAM" really meant "Keep my sorry ass out of having to go to Vietnam."

Yeah right, would it have made more sense to get your ass shot dead in a senseless war?

**cmubryan** · June-17-10, 10:29 PM

Any pictures of my aunt Mrs. Hamburger? She headed up the drama dept.

**detroiturbex** · June-18-10, 08:53 AM

Originally Posted by cmubryan

Any pictures of my aunt Mrs. Hamburger? She headed up the drama dept.

**cmubryan** · June-18-10, 10:27 PM

Wow!!! Thank you so much!! I just called her daughter [[my cousin) to share this.

**ptero** · June-19-10, 12:36 AM

What fun seeing classmates. Cass '71 here. I was in avo music - in bands, choirs, percussion ensemble, and orchestra. Also spent a LOT of time all over the theatre and working in the instrument room for Rodney Blood. The stage ladder to the grid was a different way to get to the back hallway up on 5.

Way back when, the DSO not only practiced in the auditorium but used to record there. They would hang drapes to close off about half of the 'room' for sound purposes. This would have been before my time frame there.

I still have my '71 Triangle [[and the '69 and '70 editions) but would love the pdf file, too.

Awesome stuff. Thanks so much for putting this together.

**wirt** · June-21-10, 11:23 PM

Amazing!
I had the opportunity to go through all of the available yearbooks myself when doing research on the school.
I do remember the student uprising photos.
Your photos in the Then and Now section are amazing and worthy of a book or an art gallery!
I am familiar with most of those spaces and am sad to see them in such condition.
Your photos do bring out the best though!
Good luck on the remaining poertions of the site as well as the other schools.

**LEOQUEEN** · July-29-10, 12:11 PM

This thread is golden! I would love to see the yearbooks from 35 and 36, because my Dad was in them then.
I have a copy of the 71 yearbook, that mysteriously ended up on my desk, an anonymous gift from an urban explorer who saw the boxes of yearbooks still stored in Cass. He thought I graduated then, but I was a 72 grad.
I am certainly interested in any pdf files of any of the yearbooks! History!

**Patrick** · July-29-10, 03:48 PM

Wish I could find a pre-1940 Eastern HS yearbook...

**deggen** · May-08-12, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by ct_alum

Yes, the yearbook was a political and social statement and an attempt by W. Kim Heron to get a job in the local media..........................I am Class of '71 [[ACCT) and although I certainly "leaned left" at the time, I didn't agree with using the book as a tool to promote an agenda and an individual. Black & orange? WTF?

Know how the '72 yearbook was promoted? " The green & white yearbook is back!"

That being said, when I went there CT was ranked as one of the 10 best high schools in the country by Parade magazine. It was the original "magnet school"; you met all kinds of people from all over the city and I am proud to say that I graduated from there.

Okay, I have to disagree with ct_alum here. My name is Don Eggen, Class of 1971 [[Chem-Bio). The Yearbook was in crisis in 1971 due to the new faculty sponsor, James Cole, and the administration. Read the story on p.196 for a partial story of the problems. There were two camps: Cole's crew and then the real staff. I was a volunteer on the real staff - see p.247 for credits. ct_alum missed the point here though they are entitled to their opinion, but there was a lot of drama at Cass and this yearbook was a statement by A LOT more people than just Kim Heron. Ruth Kaziak and Mark Goldstein and many others contributed to this yearbook which was mainly produced off-campus and away from Cole and his crew. Orange & Black colors? What is the opposite of Green & White? The '72 Yearbook ended up back under Cole's control, thus the obnoxious statement Green & white is back. Which yearbook do you remember the most? You might want to look up what happened to Cole in the immediate years after 1971 ... I rest my case.

**danofcamden** · May-08-12, 06:19 PM

My wife a grad from the Art Department. Her drawings are among the grad pictures in that section.

**cpanagio** · May-08-12, 10:00 PM

Great thread. Its hard to find pictures of this beautiful building while it was occupied and before it fell into disrepair. Your Google model of the building is stunning.

**Philbo** · May-08-12, 10:11 PM

Thanks for the great pictures.

I was thrilled to see my uncle Emery Hrabovsky, a teacher there in the yearbook. He died about 15 years ago when he fell and hit his head against a curb.

I am suprised that a high school yearbook could be so political.

**ptero** · May-08-12, 10:57 PM

A '71 grad here. Ahhh, the Third Floor Stairwell Sit-In! It stopped things up pretty well. Elevator policy was to take us up, but not down. Pretty soon everyone was above three and couldn't go down the stairs. I think it was about the school board talking about closing Cass entirely. The threat of closing also sparked a 'march' from Cass Park to the school bldg up on Woodward by the DPL.

Remember buying elevator passes? Selling them?