Douglass High School

Douglass High School is a Tennessee historical marker in Sullivan County.

1100 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive & Lincoln St in Kingsport.

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Side One The only school for African Americans in Kingsport began in 1913 as the Oklahoma Grove School near downtown. With Rosenwald and community funds, the first Douglass School building was constructed in 1928. A new structure was erected on this site in 1951 for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Named for abolitionist Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), the school thrived under the strong leadership of longtime principals A.H. Howell and V. O Dobbins, Sr. Side Two African American students from Scott County, Virginia, also attended Douglass. It was accredited by the state in 1946, and by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in the 1960's, by which time it was among the largest black high schools in the tri-state area. Because of school desegregation, Douglass' final graduation exercises took place on June 8, 1966. Thereafter the building housed the V.O. Dobbins Community Center.

TodayHistorical map

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1809 · United States of America, southern part. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1814 · Kentucky (Mathew Carey, 1814) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1818 · Kentucky. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1818 · Map of Virginia, 1818 (lower left sheet) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1822 · Kentucky. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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Marker text and location from the Tennessee Historical Commission, as the Commission publishes them on its marker map.

Douglass High School

Historical maps covering this location

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