Selma High School Selma NC 27576 is a public secondary school in Selma, Alabama, USA, the only public high school in the Selma City School System.
History
We Are Selma High School - A promotional video for Selma High School.
Selma High School was formed in 1970 in response to court-ordered integration, merging the former white A.G. Parrish High School and the former black R.B. Hudson High School. The school was housed in the building of Parrish High, which was constructed in 1939. R.B. Hudson's building was converted to Westside Junior High School, was renamed Selma Middle CHAT Academy and, in 2012, became known as R.B. Hudson Middle School. The high school building was demolished in 2011 and replaced with a new building that opened in August 2012; the former main entrance has been preserved as one wall of the media center.
In 1990, Selma High received national attention for a series of protests addressing the school's tracking procedures, which based students' class choices on "ability grouping" tracks. Ethnic minority students formed a larger percentage of the lower tracks, while the most advanced curriculum had primarily white students. In 1990, a group of students, led by Rose Sanders, a local activist and the wife of the local state senator, led protests at the high school against this policy and the dismissal of the system's first black superintendent, Norward Roussell. At one point Governor Roy Hunt Guy Hunt ordered the National Guard and state troopers to the high school. The protests were successful in removing the tracking programs at Selma High and in drawing larger attention to the racial disparities in these programs. The protests, however, had the negative result of increasing segregation in the school system, since many white parents withdrew their children to attend county or private schools. As of April 2011, Selma High had only five white students, and enrollment had shrunk from approximately 1,500 to below 1,000.
Athletics
Selma High's sports teams compete in the Alabama High School Athletics Association's 6A classification. As of 2014, the school fielded teams in American football, basketball, baseball, wrestling, track and field, volleyball and softball.
The school won the 1946 AA, 1947 AA (as A.G. Parrish High), 1977 4A, and 1994 6A state boys' basketball championship, as well as golf championships in 1949 and 1950 (as A.G. Parrish High). The school holds the record for most consecutive victories in basketball (73, including playoff games and 88 regular season games) and most state tournament appearances.
Alumni
Notable alumni of Selma High School, and its two predecessors, include:
- William Lehman (Florida politician)
- Ben Obomanu, wide receiver for the Auburn Tigers and Seattle Seahawks
- James Perkins, Jr., first African-American mayor of Selma.
- Terry Leach, former MLB player (New York Mets, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox)
- Ralph "Shug" Jordan, former Auburn University football coach (attended Parrish High)
- Jai Miller, former MLB outfielder (Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles) and current Safety at the University of Alabama
- Terri Sewell, U.S. Congressperson for Alabama's 7th District
References
External links
- School website