ATLANTA — Booker T. Washington High School has been officially bestowed a historical marker.
The honor was unveiled Tuesday as the school celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.
Graduates, city and school leaders, and students took guests on a walk through the school's history during a program outside of the school.
Valerie Williams said she graduated from BTW more than 40 years ago.
"To walk these halls, you know how to give back. To walk these halls, you know how to reach back," Valerie said.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., singer Gladys Knight, civil rights activist Juanita Abernathy, and former Atlanta mayor Maynard Jackson walked those halls as well, some during a time when opportunities for Blacks were scarce.
"It used to be a time when you had to pay to get into Washington High School, $50 to come to school," Valerie said. "And now, education is free."
Washington High is Atlanta's first school for Black students, according to a spokesperson for Atlanta Public Schools. The school was created during the Jim Crow era through community advocacy and the activism of African American Atlanta voters, who helped increase funds so that Black students had an option outside of segregated education.
"We have no successors or predecessors," Valerie said.
Valerie said she's proud to be a bulldog.
"We are scrappers," Valerie said. "We are fighters. We are grinders."
Booker T. Washington was an educator, one of the most influential spokesmen for Black people, and so much more. The school has a museum inside of it showing his accomplishments. The school is still working to prepare young people for adulthood and a tough world, just like Washington did.
"It's definitely pressure, but it's good pressure because, you know, diamonds are made from pressure," said Belle Williams, a current sophomore at the school. "I think, hearing the alumni and all the predecessors who have [come] from the school. It's great to hear. And it just gives you more pressure to be great and be better," Williams said
Washington's great-great-granddaughter, Dr. Erica Washington McDonald, kept tears from her eyes as the historical marker was revealed. She said she was full of pride, knowing the impact her great-great-grandfather continues to have on the students.
"It's an engravement of his philosophies of the standard that he set well before his time," McDonald said.
And now, that history will be preserved forever.
"It is important that students know the history so they don't repeat it," McDonald said. "It is important that they know the history so that they know the possibilities and so that they know what they can achieve if they set their minds to it. If you focus and are guided by the principles and the philosophies of those who came before you, like Booker T. Washington, you can achieve anything, literally anything."
You can view the marker at the school entrance at 41 Whitehouse Dr. Southwest.
