Garnet High School Students

Left to right: NoKomis Boyd, Adonia Price, Lou Wade, Frances Starks, Maude Wanzer, Ola Mitchell, Cecil Miller, Emma Wade, Irene Jackson, and Sallie Hale. [James Randall Collection, West VA Historical Society]

Garnet High School in West Virginia named after Abolitionist Henry Highland Garnett (1815 - 1882). He was a leading member of the generation of black Americans who led the abolition movement away from moral suasion to political action. Garnet himself did not stop with politics: he urged slaves to act and claim their own freedom. A constant theme throughout his life was the necessity for blacks to take their destiny into their own hands. Not only did he seek to build up black institutions, he became an advocate of colonization in the 1850s and after. He was also a firm Christian who devoted his life to ministry in the Presbyterian Church. His efforts were ably seconded by his oratorical skills which placed him in the front rank among his contemporaries.