"Today, the public school district known as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools began in Charlotte in 1882. The system's first school, known as the South School, was located on the corner of East Morehead Street and South Boulevard in the barracks of the Carolina Military Institute. The first school for African-American children was organized in 1882 and was known as Myers Street School.”1
By 1923, Central High School and Second Ward High School were opened to fulfill the growing educational needs of Charlotte students in the early twentieth century; Central serving White students and Second Ward serving Black students. In 1954, when Brown v. Board of Education was passed, Charlotte was very much a segregated city.
"For three years following the Brown decision, there was no move to comply with the law. Then, in 1957, Black citizens moved to take advantage of their legal right to attend White schools.”2 On September 4, 1957, four CMS applicants became the first African-American students to integrate four separate all-White public schools. Gus Roberts integrated Central High School and graduated in 1959. Other students who helped to integrate CMS that year were Dorothy Counts Scoggins (Harding High School), Delois Huntley (Alexander Graham Junior High School), and Girvaud Roberts, sister of Gus Roberts (Piedmont Junior High School). “Of the four students, only Gus Roberts graduated from the school that he helped to integrate.”3
The history of Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools is quite detailed. While this exhibit focuses on the history of only two CMS schools, we will be happy to direct visitors to other resources where they can learn more about CMS, the Civil Rights Movement and its impact in Charlotte, and other themes outlined in this exhibit.
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Left: The principal of Second Ward High School from 1931 to 1957, Jefferson Eugene Grigsby. Photo dated 1957. (Courtesy of the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library)
Right: The principal of Central High School, Dr. Elmer H. Garinger, 1937. In 1949, he became superintendent of the Charlotte schools. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
Charlotte City Directory, 1930. Entries showing Central High and Second Ward High Schools are displayed above.
Second Ward High School School faculty, 1940. (Courtesy of the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library)
Central High School faculty from the 1930 yearbook. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
Cover of The Second Ward Herald, a publication of Second Ward High School, 1926. (Courtesy of J. Murrey Atkins Library, UNC Charlotte)
An issue of Central High School’s The Rambler, 1939. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
Children looking at the ruins of the torn down Second Ward High School, circa 1970-1972. (Courtesy of the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library)
Clipping from The Charlotte Observer, dated March 18, 1969, describing the fate of Second Ward High School.
Handwritten draft of a letter sent to the Charlotte Urban Renewal Commission in 1969. The letter outlines the reasons why the Brooklyn neighborhood, where Second Ward High School was located, should not be razed for the sake of urban renewal and provides data of the population and average income of families living in this area at the time. (Courtesy of J. Murrey Atkins Library, UNC Charlotte, Kelly Alexander Papers)
Handwritten draft of a letter sent to the Charlotte Urban Renewal Commission in 1969. The letter outlines the reasons why the Brooklyn neighborhood, where Second Ward High School was located, should not be razed for the sake of urban renewal and provides data of the population and average income of families living in this area at the time. (Courtesy of J. Murrey Atkins Library, UNC Charlotte, Kelly Alexander Papers)
Handwritten draft of a letter sent to the Charlotte Urban Renewal Commission in 1969. The letter outlines the reasons why the Brooklyn neighborhood, where Second Ward High School was located, should not be razed for the sake of urban renewal and provides data of the population and average income of families living in this area at the time. (Courtesy of J. Murrey Atkins Library, UNC Charlotte, Kelly Alexander Papers)
Handwritten draft of a letter sent to the Charlotte Urban Renewal Commission in 1969. The letter outlines the reasons why the Brooklyn neighborhood, where Second Ward High School was located, should not be razed for the sake of urban renewal and provides data of the population and average income of families living in this area at the time. (Courtesy of J. Murrey Atkins Library, UNC Charlotte, Kelly Alexander Papers)
Central High was utilized as a high school from 1923 until 1959, at which point Garinger High School opened to house an even larger number of students in a post-World War II society. Central High's January 1958 issue of The Rambler provides a closer look at the Garinger High School design. The February 1958 issue of The Rambler explains the overcrowded homerooms and scheduling difficulties. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
A directory of faculty and students, 1958-1959. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
Central High’s Blue and Gray Handbook, 1940, provided guidance to students and instructors at Central High. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
The Central Industrial Education Center (CIEC) moved into the Central High building in 1961 and addressed the vocational education needs of adults throughout the Charlotte area. The scrapbook clippings (from the History Room Collection) give a closer look at the new Central High building layout for the CIEC. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
CIEC’s course schedule from 1962. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
CIEC’s course schedule from 1963. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
Entrance to the CIEC at the Central High building, 1961. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
A group of male students stop to take a photograph before entering the CIEC, c. 1960s. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
Students attend an assembly in the Central High auditorium, 1961. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
Central High building, c. 1950s. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
An all-Black institution known as Carver College operated out of the basement of Second Ward High School, serving Black WWII veterans, from 1949-1961. It later became known as Mecklenburg College. Scrapbook clippings (from the History Room Collection) describe how Carver College filled an educational gap. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
The Carveran yearbook, 1958. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
A booklet detailing Carver College’s plans for its new campus, 1959. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
Carver College’s Annual Catalog, 1958-1959. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
The Carveran yearbook, 1961, featuring James F. Alexander. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
James Alexander (Carver College) and Bonnie Cone (Charlotte College) receiving scholarship checks for their institutions. (Courtesy of J. Murrey Atkins Library, UNC Charlotte)
Mecklenburg College's Echo yearbook, 1962. (Credit: Central Piedmont Archives)
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Second Ward High School's Alma Mater Dear Second Ward, Our Alma Mater, We pledge ourselves to thee. We’ll love you e’er as onward we go If thou our guide will be. The thoughts that in our minds you leave Shall ever treasured be. Your noble deeds shall in us live, ‘Tis time shall end our praise.
(Source: The Tiger Yearbook, 1966) |
Central High School's Alma Mater Altho’ we stray from her forever more And all our work at Central Hi is o’er Our hearts will all remember those sweet days And forever we will sing your songs of praise Hail to thee our Alma Mater, true All hail our honored colors, gray and blue Praise to thee Central High School Of thee we ever sing with deepest pride
(Source: Snips and Cuts Yearbook, 1934) |
1 History of Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools-Desegregation. https://www.cmsk12.org/Page/1047
2 History of Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools-Desegregation. https://www.cmsk12.org/Page/1047
3 Marshall, S. (2021, February 17). New exhibit explores the desegregation of Charlotte Schools. J. Murrey Atkins Library. https://library.charlotte.edu/new-exhibit-explores-desegregation-charlotte-schools