William Oscar Boston High School | |
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Location | |
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600 South Shattuck Stret , , 70601 United States | |
Coordinates | 30°13′51″N93°11′49″W / 30.2307°N 93.1969°W |
Information | |
Type | Public high school |
Established | 1949 |
Closed | 1983 |
Color(s) | Red and white |
Nickname | Panthers |
W. O. Boston High School was an American public high school in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Originally Second Ward Colored School, it was renamed in honor of William Oscar Boston. [1] Opened in 1949 as a segregated school for Blacks, [2] [3] it was renamed from Second Ward Colored School, which had been in the community since the late 19th century. [4] W. O. Boston's first principal was Ralph C. Reynaud. [1]
In sports, the W. O. Boston Panthers won three state titles in 1972 in boys basketball, girls track and field, and football. [5]
In 1983, the school merged with Lake Charles High School to form Lake Charles-Boston High School. [4] [6] [7] At the time, W. O. Boston was predominantly Black, while Lake Charles was racially relatively even. The school board supported the merger to eliminate a one-race school. Blacks opposed it, contending that it destroyed Calcasieu Parish's best example of racial balance. The resulting Lake Charles-Boston was 78.2 percent Black and 21.8 percent White. Blacks also disagreed that Barbe High School, which was predominantly White, was largely unaffected by the board's desegregation plan. [8]