Lost Voices
DOUGLASS HIGH SCHOOL
Douglass High
We’ll do our best and try
to keep you proud of us forever
Douglass School Song
Public education for African Americans
began 
in the
1870s in the churches of the new town of Huntington, WV.
It was not until 1891 that a location for the first
African American school building was found. The
new school was named for the abolitionist leader, Frederick Douglass.
In 1893, the first class of three students graduated. By 1896 the school had an enrollment of 213 students and five permanent teachers. In 1896, the famed historian, Carter G. Woodson graduated. Four years later, he was appointed principal of the school. By 1923 the combined elementary and secondary enrollment of Douglass School was 600. A new building was erected on Bruce Street and Tenth Avenue in 1924; the old building was renamed Barnett Elementary School. Under the direction of Harry Davis Hazelwood, the school received accreditation by the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges in 1927.
For over seventy years, Douglass School was a major site of culture and community life. In 1961, desegregation resulted in the closing of the high school. Over four generations of African American youth had been educated at Douglass. All four of the women had community and educational ties to the school; three of them attended the school. Maudella White Taylor was a 1929 graduate, Ancella Radford Bickley was a 1927 graduate, and Jan Faye Smith attended Douglass but graduated from Huntington High School in 1962, in the second graduating class after the closing of Douglass.
In 1985 the school building was placed on the register of historic places. It was later used as an office building by the Cabell County Board of Education. Although the school has been empty for the past few years, it is nostalgically visited during the school reunions which have been occuring approximately every three years since 1973.