BY LOGAN HURSTON FOR THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA — On Feb. 21, the city of Opelika unveiled a new historic marker for the former J.W. Darden High School at 601 S. Fourth St. in Opelika, in front of what is now the Head Start Center.
The unveiling ceremony started with an invocation by Bishop Larry Tolbert and an introduction by Mayor Gary Fuller explaining the history of J.W. Darden High and it’s end due to integration.
“There’s a lot of history on this spot, and I’m sure (there’s) many precious memories,” said Fuller. “Folks, I believe we’ve come a long way in the past 53 years, but I believe we should never forget our past and those who come before us.”
According to a press release from the city, when Opelika schools integrated, the local school board “decided to close Darden despite its relative newness in comparison to the rest of the city’s school buildings. Many in Opelika’s Black community mourned the school’s closing. When Darden closed, the Opelika’s African-American population lost their high school football team, cheerleading squad, color schema and, to some degree, a sense of local autonomy. The school board then sold the Darden High School building to Head Start, which still uses the facility today. A strip of grass in front of the facility frames a stone marker commemorating Dr. J.W. Darden and the efforts of the many teachers who molded the minds of Opelika’s Black high school students.”
The historic marker is engraved with these words: “Founded in 1951, J.W. Darden High School took on the ninth and tenth grade students of East Street High School and added eleventh and twelfth grade curricula. Darden was Opelika’s African-American high school until the city’s high schools integrated in 1972. The school board chose to name the Black high school after J.W. Darden, Lee County’s first African-American doctor. From its inception, Darden High served as a focal point of local African-American community life in Opelika. Interviews of former students relay the sense of pride that Darden High instilled in Opelika’s Black residents, despite fighting a losing battle with the school board for adequate funding. Birdie Peterson, a 1965 Darden graduate, remembered Darden as a ‘premier school’ and imparted the respect that its students had for their educational environment, claiming that they ‘kept that building up as if it were (their) our own home.’”
“This is a great day,” Opelika City Council member George Allen told the crowd of alumni and teachers gathered for the event. “The unveiling of a marker that will be a constant reminder of the history and legacy of this behind you. Inside these walls, amid segregation, amid racism, amid oppression, we found a haven — a haven that provided us with good education, great extracurricular activities and an opportunity to be taught by some of the greatest teachers that God ever made. We should be so honored too, for we walked inside that front door, and when we we left after six years we walked out as [future] lawyers, doctors, educators, engineers and architects. At Darden, we found what we needed to be successful in the city that we love so greatly.”
Darden alumnus Larry Gray, a former city councilman, also spoke at the ceremony, reminiscing about his time at the school.
“I can remember way back in the day being at Darden,” he said. “I can’t tell you how long it’s been, but I’ve got lots of steps inside of that building. I remember most vividly the great teachers such as Mrs. Park, my great coach and late brother-in-law Jesse Dixon and Professor Morton. The thing I remember most about Professor Morton was that he would always stand on the cross section of the hallways outside of his office. He could see down each hall from that angle and if you got out of line, he could see everything and be right there to stop you.”
To close the ceremony, Dr. Beatrice Allen led former alumni and teachers in singing Darden’s alma mater, followed by a benediction by Deacon Robert Houston.