Industrial High School - A. H. Parker High School POWERPOINT

(NEGRO HIGH SCHOOL) INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL and ARTHUR HAROLD PARKER HIGH SCHOOL Birmingham, Alabama by Dr. Earnestine Bennett-Johnson (pictures from Birmingham Public Library [Birmingham, Alabama] and A. H. Parker High School files [Mrs. Rosemary Thomas, Librarian):

(NEGRO HIGH SCHOOL) INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL and ARTHUR HAROLD PARKER HIGH SCHOOL Birmingham, Alabama by Dr. Earnestine Bennett-Johnson (pictures from Birmingham Public Library [Birmingham, Alabama] and A. H. Parker High School files [Mrs. Rosemary Thomas, Librarian)

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During the school year of 1899 some Negro citizens of Birmingham called a historical mass meeting. The purpose of this meeting was to draw up a petition in which Negroes of this city would request the Board of Education to establish a tax supported school for Negroes. Dr. W. R. Pettiford, President of the Alabama Penny Savings Bank, a Negro-owned financial institution, and Mrs. B. H. Hudson, a cashier of that bank, were the leading spirits in this effort. Dr. Samuel Ullman, Chairman of the Board of Education, encouraged the movement and during the summer of 1900, the board established the high school. Upon recommendation of the school superintendent, Dr. J. Herbert Phillips, the Board appointed Arthur Harold Parker to serve as the principal and only teacher of the new school which was to be known as Negro High School. In September of 1900, in the room of the second floor of the Cameron Building, located on the southwest corner of Avenue H and Fourteenth Streets South, Negro High School was formally opened with eighteen students. The school year ended with an enrollment o forty-five students. In 1904 the first graduating class of Negro High School was made up of fifteen students. Miss Orlean D. Kennedy was added to the faculty at this time also. In 1910 the school was moved to a three-story frame building on Eighth Avenue between Eleventh and Twelfth Streets North. This site was known as the Lane Auditorium. Formal classes in industrial training began and the school became known as Industrial High School.

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"The Industrial High School (now Parker) opened in 1900 to the singing, dancing, and prayers of its students." A.H. Parker High School opened in 1900 as Negro High School then Industrial High School as the first high school for African American in Birmingham when John Herbert Phillips was superintendent. Parker High School was once the largest African American high school in the United States with 3,700 students. What is now Parker High School, was one of the first public high schools for blacks established in the South. Parker High was very similar to the Tuskegee Institute in Montgomery, Alabama. Both schools shared the same philosophy. They believed that obtaining skills to compete in the job market and an education would help blacks advance in the South. In fact, many Parker High School graduates went on to Tuskegee to continue their education. Students at Parker were required to do chores to give them a sense of responsibility and to implement the value of hard work in their lives. The students often worked on the school's farm to pay their tuition, just as at Tuskegee.

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Dr. Arthur Harold Parker, Principal – Industrial High School

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Old Industrial High School

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INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL FACULTY

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INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL BAND - 1917

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INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL BAND

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INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1924

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INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL BAND - 1931

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INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL SHOE SHOP

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INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL SEWING CLASS

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INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL PRINT SHOP

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INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL COOKING CLASS

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INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL COOKING CLASS

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INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL BEAUTY SHOP

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INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL BEAUTY SHOP

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INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE LAB

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INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL GARDENING

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INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL MARCHING BAND

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Arthur Harold Parker High School; Birmingham, Alabama

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PARKER JROTC 1960s-1970s

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The new Parker High School will be 193,650 square feet and accommodate a student body of 1,100. A 750 seat auditorium, 8,025 square foot practice gymnasium, weight room, new football practice fields, two multi-purpose fields, 12,500 square foot kitchen/cafeteria, media center, biology, chemistry, physics and career tech labs (consisting of automotive, welding, cosmetology, culinary arts, and health services) are also included. NHB serves as the associate architect to Evan Terry Associates. Construction to be completed by Fall 2011.