Fairfield Industrial High School
Fairfield Industrial High School, formerly Interurban Heights Negro Industrial High School, later E. J. Oliver High School, was a high school for Black students which was founded in 1924 and operated by the Fairfield Board of Education. It was located at 420 59th Street, west of Miles College, in the Interurban Heights section of Fairfield
Under a course taught by B. T. Leggett, male students could spend all three years in high school learning the about the history of shoemaking and learning how to repair, modify and build shoes. A sewing program for female students resulted was similarly extensive. For a graduation project each student made a new pair of shoes or a new dress to their own design to wear to the ceremony. Other vocational courses offered included tailoring, nursing, housekeeping, cooking, mechanics, and sewing.
The school was destroyed by fire in 1938. A new building was completed in 1940 at a cost of $100,000, and was expected to "clarify the problem of housing the hundreds of Negro students who have been a problem since the old high school burned two years ago."
Fairfield was required to desegregate its city schools by federal court orders arising from Boykins et al v. Fairfield Board of Education, first filed by Orzell Billingsley and Demetrius Newton on behalf of several families in 1965, and litigated into 1970.
The school was renamed in honor of former principal E. J. Oliver in 1968, and closed the same year, with students merging into the formerly all-white Fairfield High School. The vacant building, but not the adjoining gymnasium, was destroyed by fire on March 11, 1971. Miles College acquired the gymnasium building, which was renamed Knox-Windham Gymnasium.
On November 21 1971, Oliver organized the Fairfield Industrial High School Alumni Association, and appointed George Yarbrough as its first president. The organization's national headquarters and Fairfield chapter occupy buildings just south of the former school.
Notable alumni
- Piper Davis (1930s)
- Willie Mays (1950), Hall of Fame baseball player
- Eldridge Turner (1950), Fairfield City Council
- Richard Arrington (1951), Mayor of Birmingham
- Anthony Lloyd (1954), Birmingham Black Barons infielder
- Jake Sanders (1954), Kansas City Monarchs outfielder
- Edward McCall (1960), football player
- Lester Young (1969), radio personality
References
- "Everyone Who Has Finished His Course At Fairfield Institution Has A Job" ( ) The Birmingham News
- "New High School Nearing Completion" (August 18, 1940) The Birmingham News
- Oliver, Edmond Jefferson (1968) The End of an Era: Fairfield Industrial High School 1924-1968 : the Profile of the History of a Negro High School, It's Principal, Its Students and It's Value to the Community, State and Nation. self-published, Birmingham Public Library Special Collections
- Davis, John B. (2013) The Fruits of His Labor. ISBN 9781483642420
- Taylor, Drew (June 19, 2024) "Willie Mays almost got kicked out of high school while playing for the Birmingham Black Barons." CBS42.com