Woodlawn High School

Woodlawn High School
	Birmingham City Schools
Years	1916–present
Location	5620 1st Ave. N., (map) Woodlawn
Grades	9-12
Principal	Shirley Graham
Enrollment	709 (2008)
Colors	green and gold
Mascot	Colonels
Website	woodlawn.bch.schoolinsites.com

Woodlawn Magnet High School is a large magnet high school serving about 600 students in the Birmingham Public School System. The principal is Shirley Graham.

The mascot is the Colonels, and the school colors are green and gold. The school newspaper is The Tattler.

History

Woodlawn High School was established in 1916 after Woodlawn was annexed into Birmingham. The present building on 1st Avenue North was designed by architect William B. Ittner of St Louis, Missouri in association with Birmingham architect Harry B. Wheelock. It was completed January 30, 1922 for an initial enrollment of 901, of which 700 were transferred from Central High School. The dedication was held on February 3 of that year. An addition to the school was completed in February 1926 and the school's 4,208-seat athletic stadium was completed in 1929, with 8 classrooms and a small auditorium underneath.

A large mural around the proscenium arch in the high school's auditorium was painted between 1934 and 1939 by Sidney van Sheck and Richard Blauvelt Coe for the Works Progress Administration. It is the largest WPA mural in the South.

The Warblers are a men's chorus that started as a singing club at Woodlawn, active from 1929 to 1977. Most current Warblers members are alumni of the Woodlawn club.

In 1956 the Woodlawn debate team, coached by Rose B. Johnson, won the inaugural Barkley Forum, a prestigious debate tournament at Emory University in Atlanta.

Woodlawn's Junior R.O.T.C. program has been active since 1922 and has started the military careers of numerous officers in the U.S. Military.

Under legendary multi-sport coach John Blane, Woodlawn's basketball team won state championships in 1927, 1937, 1943, and 1957 while the track team won state titles in 1932, 1944, 1945 and 1946. He coached Woodlawn against Phillips High School at Legion Field in 1927.

White students protest the desegregation of Birmingham schools in front of Woodlawn High School. September 12, 1963. AP Photo

After World War II, white flight resulted in the loss of many middle-class families in the Woodlawn area. The circumstance was greatly accelerated by the desegregation of Birmingham City Schools beginning in September 1963.

In the ensuing decades the school deteriorated along with the neighborhood's economic profile. Conditions reached the point where the school was repeatedly placed on the state's "Academic Alert" list. Extracurricular activities were dropped in favor of at-risk counseling and programs for unwed mothers. The building itself became so dilapidated that teachers would walk to McDonald's rather than use the school's bathrooms. Discussion of closing the school was heard before a decision was made to renovate it for use as a magnet high school with a smaller enrollment.

The Montgomery architecture firm of Sherlock, Smith and Adams coordinated plans for the renovation, which was completed in 2007. The Woodlawn High School Alumni Association helped raise $190,000 for restoration of the auditorium mural. Significant landscaping work at the school was done by volunteers from the Church of the Highlands in the summer of 2008.

In 2011, Woodlawn became the home of the city's "Academy of Business and Finance" under Superintendent Craig Witherspoon's plan to establish career academies in the city's high schools.

Principals

• Carmichael, 1922–1923
• F. A. Gallup, 1923–1924
• C. G. Bandman, 1924–1926
• N. B. Hendrix, 1926–
• Ralph Martin, 1950s–
• Elmer Moree, –1972
• John Ippolito, 1987–1997
• Shirley Graham, present

Notable alumni

• Nina Miglionico (1930), Birmingham City Council
• Art Hanes (c. 1934), Mayor of Birmingham
• Del "Twinkles" Chambordon (c. 1939), Loveman's bookkeeper and elf
• Leven Hazlegrove, (c. 1942) chemist, Samford University professor
• Harry Gilmer (1943), football player and coach
• Wink Chapman (1944), Center Point City Council
• Herman Moore (1945), book dealer and author
• Bobby Bowden (1948), football coach
• "Cousin Cliff" Holman (1948), magician and children's show host
• Vince Gibson (1951), football coach
• Paul Hemphill (1953), newspaper columnist and author
• Rena Hudson (1953), mayor of Warrior
• Miriam Rogers Fowler (1957), Birmingham Museum of Art curator
• Art Hanes, Jr (1960) attorney and Circuit Court judge
• Mart Martin, (1962), author
• Glenn Garett (1970), musician
• Mike Hale (1969), Sheriff of Jefferson County
• Oliver Robinson (1978), basketball player, state legislator
• Gregg Carr (1979), football player, orthopedic surgeon
• Jim Carns (1957), Jefferson County Commission
• Karlos Dansby, football player
• Mary Goss Hardin, grocer
• Paul Hemphill, author
• Earnest Lumpkin (1997), banker and basketball coach
• Jackie Martinek, chief nursing officer, Brookwood Hospital
• Tony Nathan, football player and coach
• Gail Patrick, actress, television producer
• Betsy Rogers, 2003 national teacher of the year
• Terry Oden, Mayor of Mountain Brook
• Sabert Oglesby Jr, engineer & researcher
• Neil Shepherd, bomber pilot and academician

References

• Woodlawn Housing Initiative. "History of the Woodlawn Neighborhood." Woodlawn Community Information System. [1] - accessed March 25, 2006
• Torres, Ailene. (June 2005) "A new beginning: Despite man challenges, students in Ensley defy the odds." Birmingham Post-Herald.
• Nelson, James R. (July 9, 2005) "WPA-era mural at Woodlawn in dire need of restoration." Birmingham News.

External links

• Woodlawn High School website
• Woodlawn classes of 1969-71 reunion web site
• Woodlawn H.S. postcard at Postcard Birmingham
• 1970s photos on Flickr.com
• Woodlawnhigh.org another WHS Alumni/reunion web site
• Photographs of mural restoration at al.com
• Woodlawn High School football history from ahsfhs.org website