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23.2 Yates High School at 100
Letter from the Editor By Debbie Z. Harwell Debbie Z. Harwell, Editor My first formal oral history interviews as a graduate student in 2009 were with members of the Yates Class of 1958, and it changed my understanding of historical research. Even though I went through school in the Houston Independent School District (HISD), I did not know much about Yates, or any […]
Jack Yates: A Pillar of Prosperity in Houston’s Third Ward
By A’Viyon M. Robinson Rev. John Henry “Jack” Yates (1828–1897) was a father, husband, man of God, community leader, and entrepreneur. In 1926, students honored Yates’s legacy by voting to name their new school Jack Yates Senior High School. Photo in the public domain. When mentioning Jack Yates High School to a native Houstonian, they might recount fond memories or well-known anecdotes about a school whose legacy is […]
Jack Yates High School and Third Ward: Changing Together
By Antonio Lopez and Andres Rios The original Jack Yates campus, located at 2610 Elgin, was the second Black high school in Houston. The school became a pillar of the community and a beacon of education in the Third Ward. The school has been home to notable alumni, from musicians and artists to activists and politicians. Photo courtesy of the Sloane Collection. A pillar […]
Salva Magister: The Service of Hazel Hainsworth Young
By: Heather Butina-Sutton Hazel Hainsworth Young with her students at Jack Yates High School, 1949. A lifelong educator, Young taught Latin at Yates for thirty-two years. Richard Hayes Sr. said, “The teachers like Mrs. [Hazel] Hainesworth and Mrs. Virginia Miller who taught me Latin…were the heroes, nuns of our time. They really made us.” Photo Courtesy of the […]
William S. Holland
by Debbie Z. Harwell A leader in the Third Ward community, William S. Holland served as principal of Jack Yates High School from 1941-1958. Photo courtesy of Deloris Johnson. “Mr. Holland … spoke out about what he thought was best for his students no matter what it was, no matter to whom he was speaking, he […]
The Turkey Day Classic
by Debbie Z. Harwell Alumni from Yates and Wheatley came to the unveiling of the historical marker for the Turkey Day Classic, which stands on the University of Houston campus at the site where the Turkey Day Classic was played from 1942 to1966. Photo courtesy of the University of Houston. The nation’s biggest high school rivalry football game took place on Thanksgiving Day in the heart of Houston, […]
Lions Sports
By: Jorge Palomo While the Turkey Day Classic dominated Jack Yates High School sports history, other athletes and teams, led by outstanding coaches, made historic runs of their own in boys and girls basketball, baseball, track and field, and other sports. In the early twentieth century, Houston’s segregated public schools competed in the Texas Interscholastic League of Colored Schools formed in 1920, which changed its name in 1923 to Prairie View Interscholastic League (PVIL), under the Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College (now Prairie View […]
Yates’s Musical Legacy
By Adithi Nythruva The first Jack Yates band was formed five years after the school’s opening, led by Charles B. Johnson, who, besides being a practicing dentist, was an accomplished trumpet player who instilled jazz into the young players. Photo courtesy of Conrad O. Johnson Collection, African American Research Center, Houston Public Library. The year 2026 marks […]
Yates Alumni Spotlight
By Ana C. Parker and A’Viyon Robinson From its founding in 1926, Jack Yates High School in Houston, Texas, has seen thousands of students enter its doors and walk its storied halls, going on to graduate in pursuit of vastly varied lives and careers. Of these graduates, many have gone on to be notable figures, while a host of other Yates alumni have distinguished themselves across the fields of entertainment, education, law, […]
A Legacy of Learning: Celebrating 75 Years of the M.D. Anderson Library
By Lexi Gaddis For three quarters of a century, the M.D. Anderson Library has stood as a beacon of learning and a gathering place that unites the campus community. Photo courtesy of University of Houston. The M.D. Anderson Library can be found at the heart of the University of Houston (UH) campus, filled with students tucked into study rooms, fingers typing on keyboards, and textbooks stacked […]