In 1958, four Roosevelt high school students formed the group that would later be known as the Jewels. They sang together in glee club and choir—and a few other less conventional locations through the school. “I don’t know if the kids know it today, but it’s like having a microphone in your hand because of the echoes from the hallways. And in the bathrooms, it’s just wonderful for the harmonies and the singing,” Sandra Bears, a member of the Jewels, tells City Paper.
Originally called the Impalas, the group, who also went by the Renaults and the Four Jewels, recorded their first release while still in high school. In 1964, several years after they had graduated, the group renamed the Jewels released the R&B song “Opportunity,” a masterful mix of soul and harmonies that reached No. 64 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and remained there for 12 weeks. The Jewels also famously toured with James Brown and backed him on several singles. The singers performed together on and off until 2019.
Now, this skilled and charismatic combo will finally be honored on Thursday, Oct. 29, with a commemorative street sign reading “The Jewels Way” to be installed on 13th Street NW in front of their old high school. A tribute event to the Jewels with music, speakers, and a film screening inside their alma mater will follow.
The sign will be unveiled by Ward 4 Councilmember and presumptive next mayor Janeese Lewis George, who submitted the legislation to the D.C. Council to honor the act in June 2025. The legislation received Council approval in May, was signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser in June, and became law on July 18, 2026, after it received the mandatory 30-day U.S. Congressional review period. Former D.C. mayor Sharon Pratt, who attended Roosevelt High with the Jewels, will be one of the guest speakers.
Bears, now 82, tells City Paper that this week’s event is “a dream come true,” adding that she has “smile-itis” every time she thinks about it. Bears, along with the Jewels members Grace Ruffin and Carrie Mingo, will be in attendance at the event. Singer Margie Clarke, who had a subsequent solo career as Little Margie, died in 2019, but her family will attend the events. Martha High, formerly known as Martha Harvin, who joined the Jewels after Mingo left, now lives in Belgium and has a concert in Germany around the time of the event; she has submitted a video tribute to her days warbling with her onetime high school classmates.
Bears, who sang with Ruffin and Mingo at Trinity AME Zion Church on 16th Street NW, fondly recalls the early days as a singing group. After school, the girls would take the bus to Bo Diddley’s basement home studio on Rhode Island Avenue to record their songs and to back the rock legend on his track “Bo Diddley Is a Lover.” Bears recalls that Diddley was impressed that, unlike most girl groups of the time whose harmonies were light and high-pitched, “our harmonies were deep.”
She also reminisces about the awe-inspiring mid-1960s period when the Jewels were touring and recording with the Godfather of Soul James Brown. “When I see pictures of the Hollywood Bowl, I say, ‘I was there.’ When I see photos of Madison Square Garden, I say, ‘I played there,’” says Bears. “When I played one gig, I signed so many autographs after that I had cramps in my fingers. It was wonderful getting respect from those audiences.”
High continued touring as a backup singer with Brown for many years, while the other members of the Jewels chose to head back home to be with their families and to sing locally.
Working with Brown “was a learning process,” Bears says. “He worked hard and he expected nothing less from his people who worked with him.” The artists also dealt with racism during the tour. At one show in the South, Bears recalls, the band was required to perform a show for a White audience at 6 p.m. and then a show for a Black audience at 9 p.m. “That’s what was going on in the world back then, crazy stuff like that,” Bears says.
Filmmaker Beverly Lindsay–Johnson, who directed the 2012 documentary The Jewels: The Divas of DC Doo-Wop, and booked the group for a while, tells City Paper that it was her idea to pay homage to the group with a street sign commemorating their tribute to the arts in D.C. and beyond. She contacted Lewis George’s office and suggested legislation after first running the idea by the Jewels members. Lindsay-Johnson put together the program at Roosevelt High that will include a screening of her documentary, guest speakers, and musicians including Bears.
Bears speaks in amazement when she looks back at what the Jewels accomplished since those early years harmonizing in the hallways at Roosevelt High School: “We sang together for over 60 years. I started when I was 14. Today I am 82 years old and to have made that part of my life so memorable is important.”
The sign unveiling starts at 3:30 p.m. on 13th Street between Upshur and Allison Streets NW. A Tribute to the Jewels: The Divas of DC Doo-Wop starts at 4 p.m. on Oct. 29 at Theodore Roosevelt High School’s auditorium. Free, but reservations are recommended.
