In 1951 in the midst of segregation, African-American students
in Walker County had a new opportunity to advance their
education with the construction of Hill High School — the first
and only all-African-American high school in Walker County. When
two Hill High School graduates heard about the plans to build
new duplex-style housing at the site of their old school, they
felt compelled to visit what remains of their old halls of
learning in hopes of immortalizing a place that was so very dear
to them. More than just a school Hill High School opened in the
fall of 1951 on land given to the Walker County school board by
the Baptist Association with the condition that it be made into
a school. An Aug. 8, 1951 letter from then-superintendent F. D.
Leake thanked the Baptist Association for the gift and stated
that the school, at its opening, would contain four classrooms,
an office, two storage rooms, a clinic, boys’, girls’ and
teachers’ bathrooms, a janitor room and a steam heating plant.
Planned expansions would