Byrd, C. E., High School

About this property

C. E. Byrd High School is a public and magnet high school in Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. It is a Blue Ribbon School, in continuous operation since its establishment in 1925. Byrd students come from its neighborhood, or throughout the entire school district through its selective math/science magnet program. The school building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1991. In 1892, C. E. Byrd came to Shreveport as principal of the first public high school, in two rented rooms in the YMCA building at a salary of $70 per month. The early years of the school were segregated for white students. From 1917 until 1950, Central High School was the only public high school for African American students in Shreveport; and Milam Street Trade School (1939–1955) was the vocational school for high school African American students. The school moved to the Soady Building on Crockett Street, with first year enrollment of 70 in 1898. A year later in 1899, the school moved to the Hope Street School, a large three story red brick building. Elementary students occupied the first floor, intermediate the second, and high school the third. In 1910, Shreveport High School was built adjacent to Hope Street. Caddo Parish School Board decides to build two new high schools in 1923. 20-acre (81,000 m2) Site purchased from Justin Gras for $110,000 and four adjacent lots in Bon Air Subdivision, from F.R. Chadick for $9,500. Stewart-McGee awarded the building contract for $772,133 in 1924. On October 3, 1924, the cornerstone laid with full Masonic ceremonies including a letter from C. E. Byrd; a boll weevil symbolizing problems of the farmer; a bottle of oil, symbolic of the oil business; an ear of corn representing agriculture; coins representing the financial situation, and a Bible.Board authorized $40,000 to furnish the building in 1925. Building accepted from the contractor on June 27. Because furniture had not yet arrived, the opening was delayed until October. 1967: First African-American graduate, Arthur Burton. 1968: As part of an order to desegregate, neighborhood school district boundaries were abolished and students were allowed to select schools under a protocol known as "Freedom of Choice." Courts found this policy did not accomplish desegregation 1969: New districts were created in the summer of 1969 forcing thousands of students to change schools. Faculty from historically black high schools were exchanged with those from historically white high schools and students from Captain Shreve High School returned to Byrd as their neighborhood school. 1970: In an attempt to further desegregate, Valencia High School (now Caddo Magnet High School) was merged with Byrd. Students class schedules were changed at the start of the new semester in order to "mix" the students from the two schools. The Black administrators from Valencia were given minor roles at Byrd.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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