A.H. Parker High School is a public high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 located in Birmingham

Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

, Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

. The school educates over 1,000 students in grades 9 to 12 in the Birmingham City Schools

Birmingham City Schools

Birmingham City Schools is the public school district that serves the U.S. city of Birmingham, Alabama.It is currently the fourth largest school system in Alabama behind Mobile County Public School System, Jefferson County School System, and Montgomery Public Schools...

 district.

As of 2010 the principal is Cedric Tatum.

History

A.H. Parker High School opened in 1900 as Negro High School then Industrial High School as the first high school for African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 in Birmingham when John Herbert Phillips was superintendent.

Parker High School was once the largest African American high school in the United States with 3,700 students.

Notable alumni

• Oscar Adams, Jr.
  Oscar Adams
  Oscar William Adams, Jr. was the first African-American Alabama Supreme Court justice and the first African American elected to statewide office in Alabama ....
  
  , Alabama Supreme Court
  Alabama Supreme Court
  The Supreme Court of Alabama is the highest court in the state of Alabama. The court consists of an elected Chief Justice and eight elected Associate Justices. Each justice is elected in partisan elections for staggered six year terms. The Governor of Alabama may fill vacancies when they occur...
  
   justice
• Herman "Sonny" Blount
  Sun Ra
  Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...
  
  , jazz musician, known as "Sun Ra"
• Buck Buchanan
  Buck Buchanan
  Junious "Buck" Buchanan was an American collegiate and professional Football defensive tackle. He played for the Kansas City Chiefs in the American Football League and in the National Football League ....
  
  , football player and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
  Pro Football Hall of Fame
  The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...
  
  
• Nell Carter
  Nell Carter
  Nell Carter was an American singer, and film, stage, and television actress. She won a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin, as well as an Emmy Award for her reprisal of the role on television...
  
  , singer and actress
• Erskine Hawkins
  Erskine Hawkins
  Erskine Ramsay Hawkins was an American trumpet player and big band leader from Birmingham, Alabama, dubbed "The 20th Century Gabriel". He is most remembered for composing the jazz standard "Tuxedo Junction" with saxophonist and arranger Bill Johnson...
  
  , musician
• Lola Hendricks
  Lola Hendricks
  Lola Mae Hendricks was corresponding secretary for Fred Shuttlesworth's Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights from 1956 to 1963. She assisted Wyatt Walker in planning the early portions of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's involvement in the 1963 Birmingham Campaign during the...
  
  , African-American civil rights activist
• Avery Parrish
  Avery Parrish
  Avery Parrish was an American jazz pianist and songwriter.Parrish studied at the Alabama State Teachers College, where he played in the Bama State Collegians, an ensemble led by Erskine Hawkins. He remained in Hawkins's employ until 1941 and recorded with him extensively...
  
  , jazz musician
• John Rhoden
  John Rhoden
  John Rhoden was an American sculptor from Birmingham, Alabama. Rhoden worked in wood and bronze, and created a number of commissioned works including "Untitled " at the Metropolitan Hospital in Harlem; "Mitochondria" at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan; "Curved Wall" at the African American...
  
  , sculptor, head of the Art Commission of the City of New York
• Walter Sharp, basketball player
• Eric Bledsoe
  Eric Bledsoe
  Eric Bledsoe is an American basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers. He was selected by the Oklahoma City Thunder with the 18th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft...
  
  , basketball player
• Larry Langford
  Larry Langford
  Larry Paul Langford is the former mayor of the city of Birmingham, Alabama. He previously served on the Jefferson County, Alabama, Commission, including four years as the first African American commission president. He also served as mayor of Fairfield, Alabama, and served one term on the...
  
  , former Mayor of Birmingham
• Darrick Long, Film Director

External links

• Parker High School History by the Parker High School Alumni Association