Henderson High School (Mississippi)

Henderson High School
Location
Henderson High School
200 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Dr W
Starkville, Mississippi
U.S.
Coordinates 33°28′05″N 88°49′19″W / 33.468°N 88.822°W / 33.468; -88.822Coordinates: 33°28′05″N 88°49′19″W / 33.468°N 88.822°W / 33.468; -88.822
Information
Former name Oktibbeha County Training School
Type Public
Opened 1927
Grades 9–12
Last updated: 29 December 2017

Henderson High School was a public secondary school in Starkville, Mississippi. It served as the high school for black students until the public schools were integrated in 1970. Grades k–8 were also located on the same property. After integration, the buildings served as a junior high school and later as an elementary school.

History

Until 1910, a school existed for black children on Gillespie Street.[1] In 1910 it was deemed completely unsuitable and a new school known as Public School Number 2 was built with money appropriated by the city, plus the $2 per student provided by the state and the $200 generated by the negro poll tax.[2]

Prior to 1926, African American children in Starkville were able to get an education of sorts at what was known as Public School Number 2. In 1926, the city began construction on a new school, which was opened in 1927 as the Oktibbeha County Training School (OCTS)[3] in a wooden frame building with the purpose of expanding educational opportunities for Starkville's black residents. Funding of $12,700 was provided by the city, the Rosenwald Fund,[4] and by local African-American citizens. As "Training School" was a code word for prejudice, implying that black students could not be fully educated, but only trained, the school was renamed W.C. Henderson High School after local African-American educator Willie Chiles Henderson in the 1950s.[5] Henderson had been a student at Public School Number 2 in 1918, and later returned as a teacher when it was a 10th grade institution.[3] Henderson served as principal through the 1964 school year, after which he was replaced by Clell Ward. Many civil rights workers believed that the naming of schools after black principals was done to help perpetuate segregation.[6] In 1970, during integration, the building known as the Rosenwald School was burned to the ground. The last senior class graduated in 1970.[7] As with most black schools of the day, Henderson ceased to exist as a high school, but continued as a school for younger students.[8]

Campus

Prior to 1926, various citizens in cooperation with the Julius Rosenwald Fund had provided funding for a building known as the Rosenwald School.[4] This school was burned to the ground in 1970, during federally mandated integration. In 1926, the OCTS was added. In 1954, the elementary school (later known as Stewart Elementary) was added at the top of the hill. In 1959, the two story brick building known as Henderson High School was opened. In 1963 the new Henderson Elementary (now known as Ward) was added. In 1966 a metal vocational building and football complex were added.[3]

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ . East Mississippi times. 30 September 1910 https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87065609/1910-09-30/ed-1/seq-2/. Retrieved 16 December 2017. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ "Report of School Building Committee". Starkville News. 8 October 1910. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 "A Brief History of the O.C.T.S. / H.H.S. Campus". Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  4. 1 2 "School Details"url=http://rosenwald.fisk.edu/?module=search.details&set_v=aWQ9MjExMQ==&school_build_type=1&school_county=oktibbeha&school_state=MS&button=Search&o=0". Missing or empty |url= (help); |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  5. ↑ "Segregated Education". Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  6. ↑ Hanshaw, Shirley. "Starkville City Rights: Shirley Hanshaw Interview". Mississippi State University. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  7. ↑ Kirkland, Logan (24 September 2017). "Henderson High grads dedicate bench in Unity Park". Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  8. ↑ "Integration Changes". Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  9. ↑ "Richard Holmes became MSU's first black student 40 years ago". Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  10. ↑ https://www.pro-football-reference.com/schools/high_schools.cgi?id=93be9ee5
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