We should be proud of Henry Grady and his namesake

Dear friends and fellow Grady-ites. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to be writing once again for The Southerner for the first time since I was a humor columnist back in 1959 — or what is now considered prehistoric times — before graduating to national and international publications.

But my subject today is far from humorous, for it seriously involves us all: the name by which our school is known and remembered.

I first met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1967 in New York City in connection with a LOOK magazine story I was doing about starvation in Mississippi. By way of introduction I said I was from Atlanta and had even gone to Henry W. Grady High School, to which he immediately responded, “Great school. Great man.” He maintained that view up until our last conversation when he called me from Memphis about another story, four days before he was assassinated. His daughter Yolanda was a 1972 Grady graduate and was openly proud of that fact for the remainder of her brief life. “Great school. Great man.”

In this current campaign of slanderous distortion we’re told that Henry Grady himself — who was actually one of the most vital figures in the racial progress and economic prosperity in Atlanta’s history — was instead a “Confederate supporter,” a “dead racist,” a segregationist and white supremacist in the same league as George Wallace or Lester Maddox. These are vile lies. I say if you want to rewrite history, you ought to know history to begin with.

I have to tell you, I’ve had the privilege of being chased at speeds up to 90 miles an hour down narrow roads in both Mississippi and Alabama by pick-up trucks packed with howling Ku Kluxers firing guns. I’d say when it comes to white supremacy, THOSE guys are the real deal. So, I’m the last person in the world to be here supporting any sort of white supremacist.

In 1922 the Atlanta Board of Education authorized construction of the building that would be called Henry W. Grady Senior High School for Boys. The Atlanta Journal wrote of this: “Henry Grady was chosen as the school’s namesake because he was a great Atlanta editor and progressive orator, and one of our greatest educational institutions should be named after him. He stands in a class in Atlanta all by himself.”

Since 1922, well over 100,000 Atlantans have attended Grady and only recently have some misinformed individuals tried to stir up a mob mentality declaring he was unworthy of being its namesake.

But Grady High School is NOT the personification of Henry Grady himself. For over 98 years it has earned its independent reputation as a nationally respected and envied institution of secondary education. In fact, “What is Henry Grady High School in Atlanta, Georgia?” was the answer to a question on the Jeopardy TV quiz show three years ago.

Friends, I’m here to tell you that our school, Grady High School, is known and honored not only throughout the United States but literally all over the world. I personally know this to be true in Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Egypt and Morocco.

In 1994, I was in South Africa for the Discovery Channel covering the election in which Nelson Mandela was elected President. In interviewing him I asked if he was familiar with Atlanta, and he said yes and cited Morehouse, Spelman, Georgia Tech and Grady High School. I doubt if he knew who Henry Grady was, but the important point is that our SCHOOL has earned a sterling reputation of its own everywhere!

This reputation far transcends the honored career of the man it was named for, who died at a mere 39-years-old, the same age as Martin Luther King, Jr., while still growing and evolving toward ever greater enlightenment in all social and racial matters

It is an honor in the eyes of others to have graduated from Grady. Same as to have graduated from, say, Harvard, Yale, Princeton or Emory — every one of them named for slaveowners or people connected to the slave trade. John Emory, for example, namesake of my alma mater, was a flat-out slave owner. Should all these names be changed? And what about you? Do you imagine your modern, enlightened views on race were shared by your grandparents or great-grandparents? So, should you disown them? Or change your own name?

There is a mob mentality afoot here, and you shouldn’t want to be a part of it. Think for yourself. I am proud that Grady High School is a part of my life’s history, and you will discover what an honor it is for you, too.

Thanks for this chance to appear in The Southerner again. This was one of the first publications I ever wrote for. I’ve since gone on to write books, TV shows, movies and thousands of stories for hundreds of newspapers and magazines. But I started at Grady. And if you have any interest in pursuing this kind of profession, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’m easy to find and I guarantee I’ll take you seriously.
All I need is your name and the password “Grady Forever!” and I promise I’ll do my level best to set you on the right path.

Onward & upward!
William Hedgepeth