Historical Markers
Statesboro High and Industrial School
Location: 114 Martin Luther King Jr Dr. Statesboro, Georgia
County: Bulloch
Coordinates: 32.453516, -81.789274
Dedicated: October 27, 2019
Marker Type: Bulloch County Historical Society
MARKER TEXT (FRONT)
STATESBORO HIGH AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL
The origins of the Statesboro High and Industrial School can be
traced to the early 1900s. The African American community's vision to
organize a high school for their children in Bulloch County took shape
in 1905 when a group of citizens purchased land at this site. The facility
that opened in 1908 became known as the City Colored School, with
educator William James (1872-–1935), who had attended Atlanta Baptist
Seminary (now Morehouse College), serving as head.
Despite unequal public funding, James sustained operations and
financed building projects with assistance from philanthropic interests
including Rosenwald, Slater, and Jeanes Funds, the Knox and Crane
families, and Quaker abolitionist Emily Howland, for whom a dormitory
was named. An industrial laboratory was added in 1910 and the school
became the Statesboro High and Industrial School. A 1924 fire destroyed
two buildings. The school re-emerged through community fundraising
efforts and by 1930 was one of the few accredited high schools for
African Americans in Georgia.
Enrollment peaked at over 500. Students attended Chapel daily and
curriculum included: Latin, Physics, American History and Literature,
Biology, Chemistry, Algebra and Geometry. Boarding students paid
$10 and tuition ranged from .50 to $2.50 depending on grade level.
(Continued on back side)
Supported by the Jack N & Addie D. Averitt Foundation
MARKER TEXT (BACK)
STATESBORO HIGH AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL
(Continued from front side)
Also technical education in agriculture, mechanical and domestic
service classes was offered. The school held annual summer sessions
for teacher training and enhanced the city’s cultural life by sponsoring
guest lecturers and artists in concert, notably violinist Joseph Douglass,
grandson of Frederick Douglass, and concert pianist Hazel Harrison.
As principal for 28 years, James lived with his wife Julia and their
children nearby at 205 Church Street, hosting famed scientist Dr. George
Washington Carver in 1933. James was quoted as having said:
“I have spent the best years of my life in building this school, sometimes
teaching all day, with a very small salary, and plowing by moonlight so
that my family and the students of the school might have food. With the
help of my friends I am building a school for colored people of which
I am proud. It is the nearest and dearest to my heart.”
L. S. Wingfield succeeded James as principal in 1935. This school
was renamed William James High School in 1948. The Bulloch County
Board of Education has since operated schools and facilities elsewhere
named in James’ honor.
Supported by the Jack N & Addie D. Averitt Foundation
The Bulloch County Historical Society’s historical markers are funded by the
Jack N. & Addie D. Averitt Foundation.
