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A. S. Staley High School

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Coordinates: 32°05′04″N 84°13′50″W / 32.08458°N 84.23042°W / 32.08458; -84.23042
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Not to be confused with Staley High School in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S..
A. S. Staley High School
Location
Map
915 North Lee Street,
Americus, Georgia, U.S.
Coordinates32°05′04″N 84°13′50″W / 32.08458°N 84.23042°W / 32.08458; -84.23042
Information
Other nameStaley High School
School typePublic, African-American
OpenedOctober 1936
ClosedJune 1968

A. S. Staley High School, also known as Staley High School,[1] was a secondary school for African American students active from 1936 until 1968 in Americus, Georgia.[2][3][4] It was the last segregated high school in the city of Americus.

History

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The A. S. Staley High School opened on October 1936, on the site of the Americus Institute (1897–1932), a private black school.[5][6] It was named in honor of Rev. Alfred Samuel Staley (1861–1927), an educator and the former principal of the McCay Hill School, an earlier African American school in Americus.[5][7][8] The school primarily taught manual and domestic education.

In 1940, it was one of the sixteen distinguished schools for Black students selected to participate in the Rockefeller Foundation's Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools for Negroes’ Secondary School Study.[9][10]

Closure

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The civil rights era in Americus was a time of great turmoil.[4] A. S. Staley High School was the last segregated high school in the city of Americus, when it closed in 1968. Continuing Black high school students were sent to Americus High School, which had been founded as a segregated white school, and was racially integrated in 1968.[4] An urban renewal project named the "Stanley High Area Urban Renewal" launched in the neighborhood of the former school was months after the school's closure.[11] By 1970, the building was used for a middle school campus, Staley Middle School, which was racially integrated.[4]

Daniel T. Grant served as the school principal until 1951, and wrote his autobiography, When the Melon is Ripe (1955, Exposition Press Inc.) about his experiences.[12] Grant had instituted the school's band program.[7][12]

South Carolina's Museum of Education featured the school in an exhibition in 2011.[9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Americus Anticipates Grant for Removing Slum Areas". The Columbus Ledger. June 28, 1968. p. 3. Retrieved May 15, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Willis, Vincent D. (August 1, 2021). Audacious Agitation: The Uncompromising Commitment of Black Youth to Equal Education after Brown. University of Georgia Press. pp. 81–82. ISBN 978-0-8203-5970-0.
  3. ^ Alston, Beth (August 11, 2018). "Staley High School Class of 1968 reunites for 50th". Americus Times-Recorder. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d Frady, Marshall (February 12, 1971). One Another Town. Life (magazine). pp. 46–49.
  5. ^ a b Anderson, Alan. "History of A.S. Staley High School". Sumter County History. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  6. ^ "Georgia News Told in Brief: New Negro School". The Atlanta Constitution. December 3, 1934. p. 12. Retrieved May 15, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b Anderson, Alan. "Americus School History". Sumter County History. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  8. ^ "Dentists' Run From Town". The St. Louis Argus. April 12, 1935. p. 1. Retrieved May 14, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ a b Kridel, Craig (Spring 2011). "A. S. Staley High School, Americus, GA". Museum of Education. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  10. ^ Altenbaugh, Richard J. (October 30, 1999). Historical Dictionary of American Education. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 332. ISBN 978-0-313-00533-6.
  11. ^ "Urban Renewal Surveys Completed for Americus". The Macon Telegraph. February 22, 1969. p. 2. Retrieved May 15, 2025.
  12. ^ a b "Americus". Atlanta Daily World. April 20, 1951. p. 8. Retrieved May 15, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.

Further reading

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