Southern High School (Durham, North Carolina)

Southern High School is located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Southern is part of Durham Public Schools. Southern has prominent football, baseball, and basketball programs as well as the Symphonic Soul of the South Marching Band. There are currently 1574 students.HistoryHope Valley School was constructed in 1927 to house grades 1 through 11 and was the first public educational facility in Southwest Durham County. Structural changes and additions were made to the Hope Valley School facility in 1941 and 1952.Hope Valley School was subsequently downgraded to an elementary school with the opening of the then-new Southern High School in the Fall of 1956. The first African American entered Southern High School in 1965, Thelma Smith a junior and Annie Bradford a sophomore. The NAACP sued the Durham County Schools for integration of the schools. The Durham County School Board had an integration plan accepted by the Federal District Court in Greensboro in 1968 stating that all high schools and junior high schools would be integrated in the fall of 1969. Due to space limitations and the need to purchase mobile units to accomplish integration at the elementary school level, the Federal District Judge in Greensboro gave a year delay for the integration of the elementary schools.The principals of Durham County's high schools were all employed during legal segregation. A lot of discussion took place by whites and blacks in the Durham community about how successful the process of integration would be in Durham County. Many knew there would be problems at Southern High School, because the Southern High School mascot was the Rebel, and the high school used the rebel flag (later changed to the Spartan). The principal at Southern High School during this time was Sidney Ray.There was less concern about integration at the Durham County School System's Jordan High School because this high school had been attended by Durham's more affluent families, both black and white.