[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 66 (Tuesday, April 24, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E520-E521]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    TRIBUTE TO THE CENTENNIAL YEAR OF McDONOGH 35 SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CEDRIC L. RICHMOND

                              of louisiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 24, 2018

  Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the Centennial 
Year of McDonogh 35 Senior High School. McDonogh 35 Senior High School 
is the oldest public high school established for African-Americans in 
New Orleans, Louisiana. The year 1917 was a crucial year in educational 
advancement for African-Americans in the city. After decades of being 
denied the opportunity to attend public schools beyond the eighth 
grade, African-American students would have a public high school that 
offered courses that prepared them to attend the colleges throughout 
the city of New Orleans.
  Despite the location of McDonogh 35, in a section of the city that 
once housed brothels, barrooms, and boarding houses, the school would 
become a beacon of hope and pride to New Orleans' black community. For 
decades, the campus on South Rampart and Girod Streets was not equipped 
to serve with fidelity the needs of its students. Science labs were not 
modernized. There was no gymnasium to provide fitness for student-
athletes. Moreover, many students took it upon themselves to provide 
nutritious meals for their classmates by preparing food by growing 
gardens of fresh produce. It was, for those times, an unsustainable set 
of low conditions.
  Despite these circumstances, the students achieved accomplishments in 
the academic, artistic, and athletic fields of education--and also took 
on the challenges of addressing the social injustices of their day. 
Even with the destruction to their fifty-year-old building by Hurricane 
Betsy in 1965, this situation did not discourage the McDonogh 35 
community from achieving excellence. The students continued to excel as 
they called a federal courthouse and an older school building home--
until the opening of the historic Kerlerec Street building in 1972. In 
2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck the city, the returning students of 
McDonogh 35 rallied and fought to have their school opened, making 
passionate pleas to the Orleans Parish School Board for the restoration 
of this historic institution. In 2015, a

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state-of-the-art campus in the Columbia Parc area offers students 
opportunities to make strong strides in academics, arts, and 
athletics--and to add their unique contributions to the legacy of this 
celebrated institution.
  Throughout the course of its journey, the McDonogh 35 legacy has been 
strengthened by its continuance of educating students to their highest 
potential, daring them to open their minds to learning about the world 
outside of their neighborhoods, and earning prestigious honors and 
accolades for their ambitious efforts. Through these 100 years of 
trial, triumph, and transition, the presence of McDonogh 35 has graced 
the city landscape by educating the most prominent civic servants, 
educators, business moguls, athletes, and proud citizens--past and 
present. Now that it has reached that glorious milestone of 100 years, 
the entire Roneagle Nation is ready to celebrate A Century of Soaring: 
the McDonogh 35 Centennial Celebration. New Orleans should be proud to 
claim McDonogh 35 Senior High School as an important landmark for its 
impact made to our city's history.
  Mr. Speaker, I applaud McDonogh 35 Senior High School's commitment to 
educating our youth and celebrate their centennial year. McDonogh 35 
Senior High School is a school with an unpromising beginning, but 
blessed with a legacy and future that will take it beyond its 100 years 
of importance.

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