Willow Run High School was a public high school in

Ypsilanti Township, Michigan Ypsilanti Charter Township is a charter township of Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 53,362 at the 2010 census. The city of Ypsilanti is mostly surrounded by the township, but the two are administered autonomou ...

.Home page
Willow Run High School. July 29, 2007. Retrieved on September 1, 2015. "235 Spencer Lane • Ypsilanti, Michigan 48198" It was the high school of the

Willow Run School District The Willow Run Community Schools (WRCS) was a school district in Washtenaw County, Michigan, serving portions of Superior Township and Ypsilanti Township. It was the sole political entity entirely of the "Willow Run" community. The district headqu ...

prior to the 2013 merger with the

Ypsilanti Community Schools Ypsilanti Community Schools (YCS) is a K-12 school district headquartered in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan. () It was formed on July 1, 2013, by the merger of the Ypsilanti Public School District and the Willow Run School District. Experts in K-12 ...

(YCS). The "Flyers" were the school mascot. After the merger,

Ypsilanti Community High School Ypsilanti Community High School is a public high school located near Ypsilanti, Michigan. The school is the main high school in the Ypsilanti Community Schools district. History Ypsilanti Community High School was founded in 2013 as part of ...

, located in the former

Ypsilanti High School Ypsilanti High School (YHS) was a public school located in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan. () Ypsilanti High School (or 'Ypsi High,' as many people referred to it), was a comprehensive high school serving 9–12th grades, located on the western edg ...

building, became the consolidated comprehensive high school for the new YCS district. The Willow Run building now houses the Character and Restorative Education (CARE) program of YCS.

Dr. R. Wiley Brownlee

On April 3, 1971, Willow Run High principal, Dr. R. Wiley Brownlee, was driven off the road he was traveling on, then tarred and feathered by five

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

members to discourage his lobbying to formally recognize the life and work of

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

, and in an attempt to discourage him from promoting racial harmony at the high school. He went on to become deputy superintendent for

Ann Arbor Public Schools Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) serves the city of Ann Arbor, Michigan and parts of eight surrounding townships covering . The district operates 20 elementary schools, 2 K-8 schools, 6 middle schools, 4 comprehensive high schools, 1 alternativ ...

in 1974. Brownlee, an avid

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

and life-long

civil rights activist Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

, died in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on January 1, 2004.

Notable alumni

* Shannon Withem, Class of 1990, Baseball Player *

Nickolas Ashford Ashford & Simpson were an American husband-and-wife songwriting-production team and recording duo of Nickolas Ashford (May 4, 1941 – August 22, 2011) and Valerie Simpson (born August 26, 1946). Ashford was born in Fairfield, South Carolina, ...

, Class of 1959, Producer and Songwriter for Motown, Warner Bros. and Capital Music.

References

External links

Willow Run High School
Educational institutions disestablished in 2013 2013 disestablishments in Michigan Schools in Washtenaw County, Michigan Public high schools in Michigan Tarring and feathering in the United States History of racism in Michigan Ku Klux Klan crimes Ku Klux Klan in Michigan 1971 crimes in the United States {{Michigan-school-stub