CHARLOTTE — Alumni of Second Ward High School are working to ensure the legacy of Charlotte’s first public high school for Black students continues, more than 50 years after the original campus was demolished.
The preservation efforts come as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools prepares to open a new facility on the historic site later this decade.
Opened in 1923, Second Ward High School was a cornerstone for the segregated community of Brooklyn before it was razed during a wave of urban renewal.
While the physical building has been gone for decades, the district plans to return education to the site with the opening of Second Ward Medical and Technology High School in fall 2028.
During the era of segregation, the school served as a vital institution for a community where public facilities like water fountains were strictly divided by race.
Arthur Griffin Jr., a Mecklenburg County commissioner and former school board member, began attending the school in the seventh grade in 1960.
He described a culture where teachers focused on the potential of their students despite the limitations imposed by the outside community.
“My high school class motto in 1966 is ‘determination knows no defeat,’” Griffin said. “And that was just what they poured into us. It’s in our DNA in terms of resilience.” Griffin noted that this environment fostered what he called “Black excellence,” which remained with students throughout their lives.
The school’s legacy is reflected in its notable graduates, including Tuskegee Airman Fred Brewer and radio icon Hatty “Chattie Hatty” Leeper.
Other alumni include Frederick Alexander, who became the first African American to serve on the Charlotte City Council since the 1890s and later served in the North Carolina Senate, and actress Berlinda Tolbert.
The original physical structure was demolished as part of Charlotte’s first wave of urban renewal, which razed the prominent Black neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Although students and the PTA were told the school would be rebuilt as Metropolitan High School and that $2 million would be raised for renovations, the promises were not kept. The class of 1969 was the last to graduate from the original institution.
Today, the gymnasium is the only portion of the original school still standing. The structure retains its original 1949 pinewood ceiling and bleachers. While some memorabilia is kept at the gym, other artifacts are housed at a museum on Beatties Ford Road.
In 1973, four Second Ward graduates purchased the Second Ward Alumni House and Museum and established the Second Ward High School National Alumni Foundation.
Griffin, who serves as the foundation president, is currently seeking donations to renovate the facility so that more residents can view the school’s historical artifacts.
“We are encouraging this entire community to join this effort to keep this, this phenomenal jewel of history alive, and we’re committed to that,” Griffin said regarding the preservation of the museum.
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