AFRICAN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDING REVIVAL
Mary M. Bethune High School
St. Charles Parish
Bethune High School was named in honor of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, the daughter of formerly enslaved people and a prominent educator who founded the National Council of Negro Women, established the organization’s flagship journal, Aframerican Women’s Journal, and was the Director of Negro Affairs for the National Youth Administration from 1936 to 1944. She also was appointed as a national advisor to president Franklin D. Roosevelt, with whom she worked to create the Federal Council on Colored Affairs. One of her many namesake schools is located in the Diamond community of Norco, an African American neighborhood that stemmed from the old Diamond Plantation. Bethune High School began when Albert Cammom sued the St. Charles Parish School System because there was not a high school in the parish for African American students. Although he lost his job over the lawsuit, it ultimately led to the creation of Bethune High School and nearby G. W. Carver High School in Hahnville. Bethune High opened in 1951, and served students in St. Charles Parish in Montz, St. Rose, New Sarpy, Destrehan, and Norco. Alumni remember Dr. Bethune giving a powerful speech to students at the school in the early 1950s. In 1967, five students began the integration process at the formerly all-White Destrehan High School. Bethune High School closed its doors permanently in 1969 after integration.
Mary M. Bethune High School
OPENED: 1951
CLOSED: 1969
OTHER NAMES OF SCHOOL: Bethune Consolidated School
DATE OF DEMOLITION: Between 1970-1992
CURRENT USE OF SITE: Community park
Bethune Park
Norco, LA 70079
