Local Voices

BTW High School To Celebrate 100+ Years

NORFOLK

Booker T. Washington High School alumni, friends and supporters will celebrate the school’s Centennial Plus anniversary on February 23, 2019. Two events are planned on that day by members of the Concerned Citizens of Booker T. Washington High School, the Booker T. Washington High School PTA, and the Booker T. Washington Foundation.

That morning, a historic highway marker will be unveiled on the school grounds at 1111 Park Avenue during a ceremony from 1 a.m. to 2 p.m.

That evening, a reception celebration will be held from 6 p.m to 9 p.m, at the Half Moone Nauticus on Waterside Drive Norfolk, Virginia 23510.

Booker T. Washington High School is one of two high schools in the Hampton Roads area that educated Black students under legal segregation and continues to operate fully as a high school post-segregation. The other is I.C. Norcom in Portsmouth.

Booker T. Washington High School had its origin as John T. West High School, one of Virginia’s first accredited public high schools for African-Americans. It was renamed in 1917 for Booker T. Washington, educator, author, and orator. The school moved to a newly constructed building in 1924 and for decades was Norfolk’s only public high school for Black students. Its programs were central to the community.

In 1963, students marched to protest poor facilities. Norfolk implemented a desegregation plan in 1970, and the school moved into a new building and present location in 1974.