North Carolina African American High Schools
During the early to mid- 20th century, North Carolina children attended public schools based on their race. According to state-published educational directories, by the early 1960s between 260-270 public African American high schools operated in 92* of North Carolina’s 100 counties. From those sources, we’ve compiled a working list of public North Carolina African American high schools and their town and county locations.
Despite segregation’s “separate but equal” mantra, the schools for African American and Native American children were frequently under resourced, with less money for buildings, textbooks, staff salaries, and extracurricular activities. Nevertheless, these schools were vibrant and close-knit communities of learning and many of their alumni maintain ties to this day.
In 1954, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that states could no longer segregate schools according to race, but it would take North Carolina 17 years to completely dismantle the system upholding separate but “equal” schools. Head over to NCpedia for more information on school desegregation and the practice of segregation in North Carolina.
NCDHC is actively digitizing African American high school yearbooks up through their closure or integration. This exhibit page features those yearbooks along with other memorabilia from those high schools. If you have an African American high school yearbook that you are interested in adding to DigitalNC, contact us.
* Counties which we believe did not have their own African American high schools, but whose African American children were sent to segregated schools in other counties, were in the western part of the state where the African American population may have been too low to support a high school in each county: Alleghany, Clay, Graham, Madison, Mitchell, Swain, Transylvania, Yancey.
Browse Yearbooks
- Alamance County
- Jordan Sellars High School
- Beaufort County
- P. S. Jones High School
- Bertie County
- W. S. Etheridge High School
- Burke County
- Olive Hill High School
- Cabarrus County
- Logan High School
- Caldwell County
- Freedman High School
- Camden County
- P. W. Moore Junior-Senior High School
- Catawba County
- Ridgeview High School
- Chatham County
- Horton High School
- Cleveland County
- Cleveland High School (Shelby, N.C.)
- Compact High School
- Green Bethel School
- Craven County
- J. T. Barber High School
- West Street Graded School
- Cumberland County
- E. E. Smith Senior High School
- Davie County
- Central Davie High School
- Duplin County
- Durham County
- Hillside High School
- Edgecombe County
- G. W. Carver High School (Pinetops, N.C.)
- Pattillo High School
- Phillips High School
- Forsyth County
- Anderson Senior High School
- Atkins High School
- Carver High School (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
- Franklin County
- Franklin County Training School
- Riverside Union School
- Granville County
- Mary Potter High School
- Orange Street School
- Shaw High School
- Guilford County
- Dudley High School
- Palmer Memorial Institute
- Sedalia Public School
- Senior High School of Bennett College
- William Penn High School
- Henderson County
- Ninth Avenue School
- Hyde County
- O. A. Peay High School
- Johnston County
- Forest Hill High School
- Johnston Central High School
- Johnston County Training School
- Richard B. Harrison High School
- William Mason Cooper High School
- Lenoir County
- Woodington High School
- Lincoln County
- Newbold High School
- McDowell County
- Hudgins High School
- Mecklenburg County
- Plato Price High School
- Second Ward Senior High School
- Sterling High School
- Torrence-Lytle High School
- West Charlotte High School
- York Road High School
- New Hanover County
- Williston Senior High School
- Orange County
- Central High School (Hillsborough, N.C.)
- Pasquotank County
- P. W. Moore Junior-Senior High School
- Person County
- Person High School
- Pitt County
- C.M. Eppes High School
- Rockingham County
- Booker T. Washington High School (Reidsville, N.C.)
- Rowan County
- Dunbar High School
- Price High School (Salisbury, N.C.)
- Sampson County
- Clear Run High School
- Stanly County
- Kingville High School
- West Badin High School
- Stokes County
- London High School
- Tyrrell County
- Tyrrell County Training School
- Tyrrell High School
- Union County
- Winchester Avenue High School
- Vance County
- Henderson Institute
- Wake County
- Fuquay Consolidated High School
- J. W. Ligon High School
- James E. Shepard High School
- Washington High School (Raleigh, N.C.)
- Wayne County
- Carver High School (Mount Olive, N.C.)
- Central High School (Goldsboro, N.C.)
- Dillard High School
- Norwayne High School
- Pikeville Training School
- Wilson County
- Charles H. Darden High School
- Yadkin County
- Yadkin County High School
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Related Collections
Related Links
Contributors
- Alamance County Public Libraries
- Bennett College
- Burke County Public Library
- C.M. Eppes High School Alumni Heritage Society, Inc.
- Cabarrus County Public Library
- Caldwell Heritage Museum
- Cape Fear Museum
- Chapel Hill Historical Society
- Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum
- Charlotte Mecklenburg Library
- Chatham County Historical Association
- Chatham County Public Libraries
- Clear Run High School Alumni Association
- Cleveland County Memorial Library
- Craven-Pamlico Regional Library
- Cumberland County Public Library
- Danbury Public Library
- Davidson College
- Davie County Public Library
- Dudley Alumni Association
- East Carolina University
- Edgecombe County Memorial Library
- Forsyth County Public Library
- Franklin County Training School / Riverside Union High School Alumni Association
- Freedman Cultural Center of Caldwell County
- Fuquay-Varina Museums
- Granville County Public Library
- Henderson County Public Library
- Henderson Institute Historical Museum
- Heritage Research Center at High Point Public Library
- Hickory Public Library
- Historic Hope Plantation
- J. T. Barber Alumni Association
- Johnston County Heritage Center
- McDowell County Public Library
- Museum of Durham History
- New Bern-Craven County Public Library
- Northwestern Regional Library
- Olivia Raney Local History Library
- Orange County Public Library
- Outer Banks History Center
- P. S. Jones Alumni, Inc.
- Pasquotank County Library
- Person County Public Library
- Rockingham County Public Library
- Rowan Public Library
- Stanly County Museum
- Tyrrell County Public Library
- Union County Public Library
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Wake County Public Libraries
- Wake Forest Historical Museum
- Wayne County Public Library
- Wilson County Public Library
- Winston Salem African American Archive
- Yadkin County Public Library