Booker T. Washington High School, Shreveport, Louisiana
August 21, 2018
1951 marked the beginning of the Booker T. Washington High School Era. Central Colored High School, 1918, was replaced with a new facility. The administration and students all transferred to their new den . The Lion, the 1951 Year Book from the newly designed and erected school was the first edition. The Lions had much to roar about and they commenced to make sounds across the regional and national landscapes. They arrived with much fanfare and they have endured until today.
Central Colored High School, Shreveport, Louisiana, Caddo Parish was a victim of planned obsolescence, as evidenced by its name. Its doors were opened in 1917, however, the true impact of its place in Louisiana African American high school history was not realized, perhaps, because 12th grade was not offered until 1949, one year before its closure. Rising from the Central Colored High School’s ashes like a phoenix, Booker T. Washington High School was the capable successor. Central Colored High School, a shadow of itself during its days of glory, stands in the United States Registry of Historic Places.
African American High Schools in Louisiana Before 1970 