David T. Howard High School


David T. Howard High School was a school for African Americans in Atlanta, Georgia. It has many prominent alumni. In 2018 the school was being renovated for a planned 2020 reopening as a middle school. Alumni include Martin Luther King Jr., Maynard Jackson who became Atlanta's first Black mayor, Walt Frazier who played basketball at the school, Lonnie King, Vernon Jordan, Clarence Cooper, and gold medal winning Olympian Mildred McDaniel Singleton. It is located at 551 John Wesley Dobbs Avenue.

History

The school opened in 1923 as an Elementary School. It became a high school in 1948.
The school was named for David T. Howard, a former slave who owned Atlanta's largest black-owned undertaking business and founded its first African American owned bank. He was a noted philanthropist, particularly focused on educating children. He donated thousands of dollars to poor children to be educated, to Tuskeegee University, and donated the 7.5 acre campus for the elementary school which was named after him.
Martin Luther King Jr. attended the school from 1936 until 1940.
The school building is brick. It closed in 1976.

Rebuilding

As of 2019, the former school is being rebuilt for a fall 2020 opening as a new middle school feeding into Henry W. Grady High School. The school will retain the Howard name, being called David T. Howard Middle School. The renovations will cost an estimated $52 million.

Alumni