Thanks to our new partner, Clear Run High School Alumni Association, a batch containing class photographs of Clear Run High School’s 1959 to 1969 graduates are now available on our website. 

Prior to 1957,  Garland Colored and Bland High School served Sampson County’s southeastern Black population. The county’s Board of Education decided to consolidate the two smaller high schools, purchasing land for the new school in November of 1956. Eleven months later Clear Run High School opened its doors. The school’s first class included about 260 students and 11 staff members (including the principle) with enrollment increasing each year until the complete integration of North Carolina schools. 

As a result of the integration in 1969, Clear Run High School students were moved to Union High School while the Clear Run building was converted to a middle school. The building operated as Clear Run Middle School until it was permanently closed in the 1980s.

To learn more about the Clear Run High School Alumni Association, please visit their website. 

To view more photographs of places and people in North Carolina, visit our Images of North Carolina Collection.

To view our North Carolina African American high school yearbooks, visit our African American high schools collection.