drawing by Raven Johnson
Franklin
High School was the only high school serving kids from the south part of
Judkins Park and the Rainier Valley. With peak attendance at
over 2,500 students during the 1950’s, it was a meeting place for many different
groups.
Rich and poor, black and white, Jew and gentile,
everyone went to Franklin including students from the south half of Judkins Park.
Garfield
High School became the state’s first predominantly black high school
in 1962 when district figures showed a 51.4% black enrollment. The Central Area’s
only high school had such a high level of academic achievement throughout the 50’s
and 60’s that when the March on Washington occurred in August of 1963
and the school board initiated the first voluntary busing program,
only 238 of the 7,000 black pupils participated.
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