Dubois High School

Dubois High School. African American Heritage Tour. , In 1906 a levy was passed in Fayette County to establish the county's first high schools, one for white children and one for black children. The original school for African American children was constructed at Turkey Knob, but was later replaced in 1917 with an eight room brick building on the hill above Dunloop Creek. The school was named after Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, an educator and civil rights leader on the staff of Howard University in Washington, DC., DuBois High School offered many classes such as home economics, French, chemistry, world history, math, and English. Students could participate in the band that performed at football games and competitions. Boy's football and basketball were the school's main team sports. Girls could join the cheerleading squad, but there were no other sports for girls., Tragedy struck in 1950 when the original schoolhouse was destroyed by fire. On January 30, 1954 the new DuBois High School opened its doors again, as an all-black high school. Two years later, in the fall of 1956, DuBois and Mount Hope High Schools integrated and DuBois High School's name was changed to Mount Hope High School. The former Mount Hope High School building then became Mount Hope Junior High., After 1956 when black students were integrated with white students, they participated in band, chorus, school clubs and organizations., Kathleen Scott relates her experience with desegregation, "Our friends from other parts of the county began going to other schools closer to where they lived and we didn't get to see them anymore.", After integration, black male students played on the football and basketball teams with white male students.