CARVER HIGH SCHOOL
Gadsden, Alabama
THE LIFEBLOOD OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY
This is the third of series to coincide with ‘THE TIES THAT BIND’. (NOTE: If you have not read the first and second of the series… do so, for they set the tone for this article and those to come. We will continue with the ‘HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS’.
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Mr. H. L. Shaw assumed the leadership of Carver in 1966. Under his administration, Carver underwent an evaluation for accreditation in 1967 and received the certificate in Dallas, Texas, in 1968. Carver became a member of the Alabama High School Association in and played the first integrated football game in the state of Alabama. In 1969, the curriculum was changed from general to vocational. Students from Gadsden High and Emma Samsom attended. The faculty was still dedicated to the improvement of its students. In addition to those already there, Mr. Shaw added some new faces. Some were Mrs. Ida Shaw, Miss Julia Ware, Mr. Ellis Thomas, Mrs. Nettie Robinson, Mrs. Willa Jackson, Mr. Willie C. Jones, Ms. Jill, and Jan Jordan
Times were changing during Mr. Shaw’s administration. In 1969, the social upheaval, integration came to Carver. Many of the teachers were transferred, but those who remained still pressed for excellence in the students, and Carver remained a leader among schools until it was closed in 1971.
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Strange isn’t it that words and simple deeds have a strange way of winging their paths down through the years to make their vital impacts felt in some far-off tomorrow? Even the last crushing blow that fell on the physical structure of Carver could not destroy these impacts.
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Truly, “The Ties That Bind” are deeply and infinitely interwoven into the American fabric. They were evidenced in the unheralded Carverites who, in quiet and humbled ways bless the community, in public school teachers, college professors, educational directors, nurses, physicians, lawyers, writers, businessmen, musicians, artists, great athletes, journalists, military men and women, clergymen, photographers, scientists, politicians, laborers, and foremen of steel and rubber industries, city workers, salesmen and warm humanitarians.
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Will future historians view these ties in the light of their true perspectives?
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Lest you forget___
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“Above the distractions of earth, God sits enthroned; all things are open to His divine survey; and from His great and calm eternity, He orders that which His Providence sees best.
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“And in that apocalyptic morning, when the celestial scribe came to write the deeds of men, educational institutions, and nations, upon the achievement book of the ages, he shall find that volume all too inadequate, but taking the blue dome of the arching sky and molding it into a star-spangled scroll, he will seize the jig-jags as they dart across the outer heavens and emblazon upon that scroll n hues of maroon and gold and in characters of living light ___ Carver High School, citadel of learning, maker of men and women.”
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Academic Ties
YEAR VALEDICTORIANS SALUTATORIANS
1938 Lucinda Crayton Nettie G. Kent
1940 William Joseph King Bettie M. Williams
1943 Annie Reese Maxine Russell
1945 Emma Jean Dupree Evelyn Watts
1946 Thomas Scott, Jr. Lela Williams Thomas
1947 Edward Presley Hattie Ager
1948 Dorothy Sullivan Spencer Thomas
1949 Dorothy Pepper Clara Hughes
1950 Bertha Ousley Rose McCall
1951 Claretha McAlpin Joseph Butler
1952 Andrew Jackson, II Marvin Perkins
1953 Phillip Davis Mildred Johnson
1954 Mildred Robertson Bennie Cowser
1955 Elsie Grice Doris Robinson
1956 Henra F. Springer Mabel Wright
1957 Clinton Ransaw Eleanor Hines
1958 Dorothy Coleman Olivia Marbury
1959 Dorothy Rigby Clarence Coats &
Ishmeal Ransaw
1960 Wallace Williams James Staples
1961 Norma Turner Joseph Patrick
1962 Ruth Rigby Patricia Bledsoe
1963 Margaret Wilson Frances Whitney
1964 Glenda Davis Robert Strong
1965 Pamela Myers Juanita Jackson
1966 Rebecca Bostick Helen T. McAlpin
1967 Ralph Smith & James Scott Emily Williams
1968 Jerry Ransaw Gwendolyn Rigby
1969 Helen Thomas Alvin McNeal
1970 Gwendolyn Marbury Frances Rooks
1971 Angela Robinson Reginald Thomas
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Next month, (JULY), we will continue with ‘THE SOCIAL TIES’… (Miss Carver, Homecoming Queens, Student Council Presidents, etc).
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WHAT A RICH HERITAGE WE HAVE..
‘LONG LIVE DEAR OLD CARVER HIGH SCHOOL’.
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Brenda M. Jelks Hutchinson
As a proud alumni of CHS, the way we responded to God’s challenging
assignment reveals on the HIGHEST LEVEL OF EDUCATION, COMMITMENT,
RESPECT AND LOVE….
…these are ‘THE TIES THAT BIND’.