As the end of the renaming process for Grady High School nears, the Grady Name Change Committee narrowed the list of potential names down to five at the meeting last week. The Southerner put together a summary of each of the 5 potential names for community members to read before submitting their vote.
Many community stakeholders who support renaming Grady after Ida B. Wells believe that her life’s work speaks to the values that the Grady community prioritizes: activism and communication. Wells was a prominent Black journalist and advocate who lived during the same post-Reconstruction era as Henry W. Grady. She wrote many investigative pieces about the prevalence of lynching in the South...
One of two geographical-based names in the top five contenders for Grady High School’s new namesake, Midtown refers to the neighborhood in which the school is located. The locale is generally bound by 17th Street, North Avenue, the Atlanta Beltline Eastside Trail and Interstates 75 and 85. Grady is the only public high school in the area. Midtown is home to the highest density of arts and culture insti...
Dr. Thomas E. Adger served as principal of Grady from 1981 to 1991. He was promoted from Assistant Principal to Principal, making him Grady’s first African American principal. After leaving Grady, Dr. Adger served as an interim principal at North Atlanta and then worked as a mentor for other principals. At the time he became principal, Grady was a struggling school in the district. Dr. Adger helped...
The proposed name Piedmont High School is both a tribute to Grady’s proximity to Piedmont Park and a nod to the city of Atlanta’s location in the Piedmont region of the state. The name Piedmont originated from the Italian words “pied,” which means foot, and “monte,” which translates to “hill.” A fitting name, Georgia’s geographical Piedmont region is characterized by the surplus...
The proposed name Freedom High School seeks to encompass overarching principles of the City of Atlanta and strike a middle ground between a historical figure name and a location-based name. As a noun, freedom carries both connotations and denotations of physical and societal liberty and independence. As a concept, freedom is embedded in Atlanta's culture, with the name bestowed upon both Freedom...
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