AFRICAN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDING REVIVAL
Bethune High School
Avoyelles Parish
Bethune High School was formerly known as Marksville Colored High School, which operated from 1940 until 1956. The school ultimately moved to another location further outside of town in the area of Fifth Ward, and its name changed to Mary McLeod Bethune High School. This new school opened in 1956 and was in operation until integration in 1970. Following integration, this iteration of Bethune High School became Marksville Middle School, and remained open as such until closing in 2010. The original 1940 school was located on Martin Luther King Drive. The school’s origins date back to 1936, when Principal D. A. Jordan was asked to be the first principal of Marksville Colored High School. The original 1940 site of Marksville Colored High School has a historic marker, but the building is no longer extant. The marker reads, “C. P. Couvillion donated this site in 1905 for the construction of a school for ‘Negroes’ in the Marksville area. Its first eighth-grade class began in 1933. First graduation was in 1940. Classes were held upstairs in the Masonic Hall on this site.” The historical marker is at the intersection of Legion Drive and Denux Street.
Bethune High School
OPENED: 1956
CLOSED: 1970
OTHER NAMES OF SCHOOL: Marksville Colored School, Marksville Negro School, Marksville Middle School
OTHER USES/CURRENT USE: Middle school, Vacant
SQUARE FOOTAGE: 83,000 sf
PROPERTY OWNER: Avoyelles Parish School Board
