The Wake County (North Carolina) school board has voted to demolish Ligon Middle School in Raleigh over the objections of alumni who wanted the historic facility preserved and renovated.
The Raleigh News & Observer reports that the board approved a $121 million plan to erect a new school building on the site of existing athletic fields on the campus. Alumni who attended Ligon when it was a Black high school prior to integration wanted to either renovate the 73-year-old building or rebuild on the hill at the top of the property.
District leaders say they will try to preserve Ligon's legacy in the new facility. The board directed staff to incorporate in the new school some sort of tribute that acknowledges the historical significance of the former high school.
“I can tell you as a student of history and a student of segregated schools, I know the importance,” Superintendent Robert Taylor said. “I think this is a unique opportunity we have to reflect that legacy.”
Ligon High School opened in 1953 as Raleigh’s Black high school during Jim Crow segregation. In 1971, Ligon was converted to a junior high school as part of efforts to integrate the Raleigh City Schools. It’s now a magnet school serving middle school students from across the Wake County district.
Members of the J.W. Ligon High School Alumni Association had spoken at multiple school board and community meetings to lobby for the preservation of the historic main building.
