History on Display at New Atlanta Public Schools Archives Museum

By Stephen J. Alford
The Atlanta Board of Education (ABE) has begun tours of the new Atlanta Public Schools Archives Museum. Designed to preserve and showcase Atlanta Public Schools’ rich history, the museum is a thoughtful, historical representation of the commitment, innovation, controversy and odyssey of the school district’s journey.
The museum houses a variety of archives ranging from a manual school bell and high school yearbooks to the historic David T. Howard High School principal’s counter, where parents of students like Martin Luther King, Jr., Vernon Jordan, Maynard Jackson, and Walt Frazier registered for school. “This museum will not be a neutral place,” said ABE Executive Director Howard Grant, who led the project.  “It should invoke the same kind of zeal that empowered and motivated the founders of APS.”
Numerous APS students-turned-leaders attended the unveiling and ribbon cutting ceremony for the museum, including the Honorable Judge Glenda Hatchett, Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell and media personality and Atlanta Daily World publisher Alexis Scott.
For more information about the Atlanta Public Schools Archives Museum, call 404-802-2200, or 404-802-3500.