Selma High School is 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
Selma, Alabama
Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. About ...
. It is the only public high school in the
Selma City School System.
History
Selma High School was formed in 1970 in response to court-ordered integration, merging the former white A.G. Parrish High School and the former black R.B. Hudson High School. The school was housed in the building of Parrish High, which was constructed in 1939. R.B. Hudson's building was converted to Westside Junior High School, was renamed Selma Middle CHAT Academy and, in 2012, became known as R.B. Hudson Middle School. The high school building was demolished in 2011
[ and replaced with a new building that opened in August 2012; the former main entrance has been preserved as one wall of the media center.
In 1990, Selma High received national attention for a series of protests addressing the school's tracking procedures, which based students' class choices on "ability grouping" tracks. Ethnic minority students formed a larger percentage of the lower tracks, while the most advanced curriculum had primarily white students. In 1990, a group of students, led by Rose Sanders, a local activist and the wife of the local state senator, led protests at the high school against this policy and the dismissal of the system's first black superintendent, Norward Roussell. The protests were successful in removing the tracking programs at Selma High and in drawing larger attention to the racial disparities in these programs.
During the 1989-1990 academic year an incident occurred on school grounds that resulted in one student being shot. In response, the then governor ]Guy Hunt
Harold Guy Hunt (June 17, 1933 – January 30, 2009) was an American politician, pastor, and convicted felon who served as the 49th governor of Alabama from 1987 to 1993. He was the first Republican to serve as governor of the state since Re ...
ordered the National Guard and state troopers to the high school.[ As a result of the protests and the school shooting, many white parents withdrew their children to attend county or private schools. This led to increasing segregation in the school system, as of April 2011, Selma High had only five white students and enrollment had shrunk from approximately 1,500 to below 1,000.][
]
Athletics
Selma High's sports teams compete in the Alabama High School Athletics Association's 6A classification. As of 2014, the school fielded teams in American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
, basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
, baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
, wrestling
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
, track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
, volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
and softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
.
The school won the 1946 AA, 1947 AA (as A.G. Parrish High), 1977 4A, and 1994 6A state boys' basketball championship,
Notable alumni
* Ralph "Shug" Jordan, former Auburn University football coach (attended Parrish High)[
* Terry Leach, former baseball player
* William Lehman, politician
* Darrio Melton, politician
* Jai Miller, former baseball player
* ]Ben Obomanu
Benjamin Ebenezer Obomanu (born October 30, 1983) is a former American football wide receiver. He was selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the 7th round of the 2006 NFL Draft. Obomanu played college football for the Auburn Tigers.
High school ...
, wide receiver[
* ]Terri Sewell
Terri is an alternative spelling of Terry. It is a common feminine given name and is also a diminutive for Teresa.
Notable people with the name include:
*Terri Allard (born 1962), American country/folk singer/songwriter
*Terri S. Armstrong, Amer ...
, U.S. Congressperson for Alabama's 7th District[
* Lachavious Simmons, football player]
References
External links
School website
{{authority control
Public high schools in Alabama
Education in Selma, Alabama
Educational institutions established in 1970
Schools in Dallas County, Alabama
1970 establishments in Alabama