George Washington Carver High School was a public
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
in
Carrollton, Georgia
Carrollton, Georgia is a city in the northwest region of Georgia, about 45 miles (72 km) west of Atlanta near the Alabama state line. It is the county seat of Carroll County, which is included in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. Historically, ...
, United States. It served as the only high
school for African American students in
Carroll County during
segregation Segregation may refer to:
Separation of people
* Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space
* School segregation
* Housing segregation
* Racial segregation, separation of humans ...
. The school closed in 1969 with the completion of the county's integration process.
History
The
Carrollton City School District
The Carrollton City School District is a public school district in Carroll County, Georgia
Carroll County is a county located in the northwestern part of the State of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, its population was 119,148. Its county se ...
was established in 1886 and opened the Carrollton Public School a year later. This school served children in the local Carrollton area and expanded to include a school on Maple Street in 1913 and a separate
Carrollton High School building on South White Street in 1921. However, the only children allowed to attend these schools were white.
School racial segregation was still in existence and African American students were denied admittance into these schools.
The first black school in Carrollton opened on Pearl Street in 1913. However, the original name of this school is unknown. (Retroactively referred to as Pearl Street School) In 1932, using funds raised from a bond issue by the city of Carrollton, along with matching funds from the
Rosenwald Fund
The Rosenwald Fund (also known as the Rosenwald Foundation, the Julius Rosenwald Fund, and the Julius Rosenwald Foundation) was established in 1917 by Julius Rosenwald and his family for "the well-being of mankind." Rosenwald became part-owner of S ...
, the first school for black children that reached past the elementary level (serving grades 1-11) opened under the name Carroll County Training School on the corner of Alabama and King Streets. In 1954, a new building was built for grades 8-12 and was named George Washington Carver High School while the adjacent Carroll County Training School, becoming a feeder elementary school, was renamed "Alabama Street Elementary". Carver had an initial enrollment of around 600, which remained fairly constant until the school closed. In 1963, the school district opened "West Side Elementary" nearby to serve as a feeder school. In 1965, the beginning of integration of Carroll County commenced and a "school choice" plan was implemented, which allowed students to choose which high school to attend regardless of race. Eleven Carver High students, the first in the county's integration history, chose to attend the previously all white
Temple High School, but they recall being met with racial harassment and intimidation upon first enrolling. In 1969, Carroll County completed its local
integration process; Carver was closed and all students were reassigned to previously all-white high schools. The school reopened as an integrated Alabama Street Elementary with its absorption into the single cluster school system until 1992.
Legacy
In 2005, Carver High alums Carolyn Gray and James Ira Wyatt founded the Carver High Museum and Archives to collect and preserve the history of the school and the African American community of Carrollton.
Carrollton Board of Education member and Carver High graduate Joshua Mabry proposed turning the site of the school into a museum with collaboration from the non-profit organization. Mabry died however in 2008 and the remaining board members decided to sell the site of the former school. In 2020, the owner of the site, Dr. Brent Harris, a physician and owner of US MedClinic, a local business, planned to turn the facility into a molecular lab. This announcement was met with mixed reactions from the community. Nearby residents scrutinized the plan citing concerns about the safety of such a facility in a suburban setting while others encouraged the idea of utilizing the abandoned site. Many also questioned Harris's original purchase of the site with disappointment that the former school was now owned by a private businessman. Harris decided against his plans after pushback from various community voices, and later considered the idea of converting the facility into lofts. However, this idea was never realized, and Harris was arrested in late July 2021 for crimes related to his medical work. The site currently remains unused.
Athletics
Carroll County Training School was the first school in the county to win state championships. With the conversion to Carver High, the Yellow Jackets were the first local school team to win a state title with two state championships and three district titles in the 1950s. The school is also the alma mater to Olympic gold medalist
Catherine Hardy Lavender
Catherine Hardy Lavender ( née Catherine Hardy) (February 8, 1930 – September 8, 2017) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the 100-meter dash. She won an Olympic gold medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the 1952 Olympic Sum ...
whose team placed first in the 4x4 Women's Relay at the
1952 Summer Olympics
The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...
in Helsinki.
Entrance to West Georgia College denied
In the 1955 and 1956 school years, every black senior at Carver applied for admission to West Georgia College (now the
University of West Georgia
The University of West Georgia is a public university in Carrollton, Georgia. The university offers a satellite campus in Newnan, Georgia, select classes at its Douglasville Center, and off-campus Museum Studies classes at the Atlanta History Ce ...
), and all were denied admission because of their skin color. In 2002, the college apologized, and an anonymous donor created a scholarship fund for the descendants of the students who had been denied admission.
Notable alumni
Carroll County Training School
*
Catherine Hardy Lavender
Catherine Hardy Lavender ( née Catherine Hardy) (February 8, 1930 – September 8, 2017) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the 100-meter dash. She won an Olympic gold medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the 1952 Olympic Sum ...
- Olympic athlete and gold medalist
Carver High School
*
Margie Alexander
Marjorie Lucille "Margie" Alexander (October 11, 1948 – March 26, 2013) In 1968, she started singing at the Club 400 in Atlanta, and joined Clarence Carter's band as a back-up singer. By 1971 she had a recording contract with Atlantic Reco ...
- American
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
and
soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
singer
* Carolyn Gray - Founder and curator of the Carver High Museum and Archives
* James Ira Wyatt - CHMA co-founder
* Joshua Mabry - Carrollton Board of Education member (Two years after his death, the school district constructed an arts center and named it in his honor.)
* Bernice Brooks - Carroll County Board of Education member
References
{{authority control
Historically segregated African-American schools in Georgia (U.S. state)
Defunct schools in Georgia (U.S. state)
Former high schools in Georgia (U.S. state)
Schools in Carroll County, Georgia