Collis P. Huntington High School
Encyclopedia
Collis P. Huntington High School, commonly referred to as just Huntington High School (opened in 1927) was a black high school located in the East End section of Newport News, Virginia
, USA during the era of racial segregation. After desegregation
, it became an integrated intermediate school (eighth and ninth grades), and in 1981 was converted to a middle school (sixth through eighth grades). The school was named after the shipping and railroad pioneer, Collis P. Huntington
, who founded the local shipyards, the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company
, at one time the largest shipbuilding concern in the world.
Lutrelle Palmer, the principal of Huntington High, also a strong NAACP advocate, whose own wages were supplemented by voluntary parental contributions, in November 1937 chastised his daughter for accepting a job in Newport News that paid her a third less per month than a beginning white teacher earned. This led to a unanimous vote by the Virginia State Teachers Association to file equal-pay lawsuits in partnership with the NAACP. This move paved the way to a statewide campaign attacking the legal basis for school segregation. Palmer was sacked from the school in 1943 for his activism.
Thad Madden, the athletics coach, led Huntington High to 26 Virginia Interscholastic Association state track championships.
Newport News, Virginia
Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...
, USA during the era of racial segregation. After desegregation
Desegregation
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races. This is most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in...
, it became an integrated intermediate school (eighth and ninth grades), and in 1981 was converted to a middle school (sixth through eighth grades). The school was named after the shipping and railroad pioneer, Collis P. Huntington
Collis P. Huntington
Collis Potter Huntington was one of the Big Four of western railroading who built the Central Pacific Railroad as part of the first U.S. transcontinental railroad...
, who founded the local shipyards, the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company
Northrop Grumman Newport News
Newport News Shipbuilding , originally Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company , was the largest privately-owned shipyard in the United States prior to being purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2001...
, at one time the largest shipbuilding concern in the world.
Lutrelle Palmer, the principal of Huntington High, also a strong NAACP advocate, whose own wages were supplemented by voluntary parental contributions, in November 1937 chastised his daughter for accepting a job in Newport News that paid her a third less per month than a beginning white teacher earned. This led to a unanimous vote by the Virginia State Teachers Association to file equal-pay lawsuits in partnership with the NAACP. This move paved the way to a statewide campaign attacking the legal basis for school segregation. Palmer was sacked from the school in 1943 for his activism.
Thad Madden, the athletics coach, led Huntington High to 26 Virginia Interscholastic Association state track championships.
Notable alumni
- Dr. Walter Nathaniel Ridley (1910-1996), first black graduate of the University of VirginiaUniversity of VirginiaThe University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
(June, 1953), former President of the American Teachers Association (1944-47), first black student initiated into a University honorary society (Kappa Delta Pi, a professional education society), head of psychology department, Virginia State College (1943-1958), Dean of Saint Paul's CollegeSaint Paul's College, VirginiaSaint Paul's College is a private, historically black college located in Lawrenceville, Virginia. The college is a four-year, private, co-ed, liberal arts institute affiliated with the Episcopal Church.-Campus:...
, Lawrenceville, Virginia (1957-1958), President of Elizabeth City State Teachers College (name changed to Elizabeth City College in 1963), North Carolina (1958-1968), Professor (later chairman) of the Department of Secondary Education, West Chester University of PennsylvaniaWest Chester University of PennsylvaniaWest Chester University of Pennsylvania is a public university located in West Chester, Pennsylvania, about miles west of Philadelphia. It is one of the 14 state universities of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education . West Chester was ranked 69th in the Master's Universities ...
(1968-1987, emeritus). - Former U.S. Energy Secretary, Hazel R. O'Leary (1937-)
- Lutrelle "Lu" Palmer, Jr. (1922-2004) (class of '38), son of the school's principal, political commentator, author and editor of the "Lu's Notebook" radio program, inducted into Chicago State UniversityChicago State UniversityChicago State University is a state university of the U.S. state of Illinois, located in Chicago.-History:Cook County Normal School was founded in 1867, largely through the initiative of John F. Eberhart, the Commissioner of Schools for Cook County...
Black Writers' Hall of Fame in 1999.