Birmingham’s A.H. Parker Faculty, Alums Add to the School’s Rich Tradition of Education

Parker High School Teachers of the Year, from left: Maia Lake, Mathematics teacher, class of ’01; Andrea Hall-Toyer, English teacher, class of ’00; Monquelle Shamburger, Cooperative Education teacher, class of ’97; Alexis Montgomery, Mathematics teacher, class of ’03. (Amarr Croskey Photos, For The Birmingham Times)
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By Sym Posey | The Birmingham Times

(Second of Two Parts)

Name the career, and you’ll likely find a successful Arthur Harold Parker High School alum. Among its graduates are a state supreme court justice, a major general in the U.S. Army, an NFL Hall of Famer, and a Tony-award winner, as well as NBA and baseball stars and celebrated Civil Rights attorneys and activists.

There’s also a chemist, a mathematician, a renowned composer, a big band leader, a newspaper editor, a mayor, a state representative, a renowned pastor, a sculptor, and a district attorney.

(See a list of famous names here)

Birmingham’s oldest Black high school turns 125 this year, and some of its most illustrious graduates include those who’ve had their lives transformed after spending four years at the historic institution in the city’s Smithfield community.

“The courses I took at Parker High School were called ‘college-prep courses,’ and when I got to college it was simply for me a refresher course,” said Adrienne Reynolds (class of 1975), who serves as the neighborhood officer for the Smithfield community. “I was on the Dean’s List my whole four years at Alabama State University because of what I learned at Parker High, and from there I took those skills into the workforce. It was a breeze for me after what I learned education-wise and life-wise at Parker High School.”

Barry McNealy, Social Studies teacher/Historian, class of ’89. (Amarr Croskey Photos, For The Birmingham Times)

“Parker prepared me to stand on my own two feet and not question myself,” said Barry McNealy (class of 1989), a U.S. History teacher at Parker, who currently heads the school’s Social Studies department and serves as the Historical Content Expert at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI). “I knew I had a preparation that would see me through anything.”

He added, “The walls of Parker High School shielded students from feeling inferior because we were blessed to be around people who saw the greatest in us, and it was their passion in life to bring that out of us without hampering us with the idea [that] we’re seen as less than by the outside world.”

“Advance the Cause”

Arthur Harold Parker, the school’s founding principal and the pioneer of Black education in Birmingham, put an emphasis on finding the best instructors.

Many of the teachers Parker hired after he started what was to become Industrial High School in 1900 were Black people with master’s and doctorate degrees from Northern universities who wanted to return home but couldn’t find work at segregated Southern colleges.

“Parker developed in his faculty a commitment to a school system designed to advance the cause of his people. The teachers felt they were part of a cause that was greater than themselves,” said Carl Harris, a history professor, during a May 1985 interview with The Birmingham News.

“Parker’s message to his students and faculty was, ‘Don’t look at what we don’t have—let’s look at what we do have.’ [Even 50 years after graduating], students remember the names of most their teachers because the teachers worked so intensely with the students,” said Harris, who taught at the University of California–Santa Barbara for 30 years and studied early Black education in Birmingham.

Nearly a dozen A.H. Parker graduates now teach at the school. Here are some. Bottom row from left: Tom Hall, Graphic Arts teacher, Class of 1981; Alexis Montgomery, Mathematics teacher, Class of ‘03; Barry McNealy, Social Studies Teacher, Class of ‘89. Second row from left: Kristin Cox, English teacher, Class of ‘00; Monquelle Shamburger, Cooperative Education teacher, Class of ‘97; Cheryl Ramsey, Guidance Counselor. Top row from left: Beverly Brown, librarian; Andrea Hall Toyer, English teacher, Class of ‘00; Maia Lake, Mathematics teacher, Class of ‘01; Sara Brown, CNP Manager, Class of ‘79. (Amarr Croskey, For The Birmingham Times)

The faculty had an expectation that started with Parker and can be traced all the way down through the nine principals that followed him, McNealy said.

“That expectation was that students were going to be capable of being the best citizens they could be,” said McNealy, who has been teaching at Parker High School since 1998. “With a constant chain of faculty members like myself, we can reach back to the days of Arthur Harold Parker because every step of the way, there has been somebody here who was taught by somebody in those 125 years, and we take it upon ourselves to try to uphold that standard.”

“All the Difference”

In 1899, the Birmingham Board of Education agreed to create a high school for African American students. Superintendent Dr. John Herbert Phillips selected Parker to become the sole teacher for Industrial High School—dedicated to Black students—when it opened on the second floor of the Cameron Elementary School at 800 14th Street South in September 1900.

Parker was more than the principal. He was also one of the instructors, teaching gardening and carpentry along with science, math, and English. He retired as principal of Industrial High School in 1939. In his honor, the school was renamed A. H. Parker High School. Parker died on August 17, 1939.

“The kind of teachers we had at Parker made all the difference in the world—not the building or the grounds but the teachers,” the Rev. Dr. John Thomas Porter, pastor of Sixth Avenue Baptist Church and a graduate of A. H. Parker High School (class of 1949), said in a 1998 interview with The Birmingham World newspaper.

Many of the students came from families “whose parents had not gone to college,” Porter added. “We could not get inspiration for post high school education from our parents because they really had no experience themselves. We had to get it from our high school teachers. I think the teachers, and just name them one after another, made all the difference. … How blessed we were to have that opportunity to be exposed, to be inspired.”

Alexis Montgomery, A.H. Parker math instructor teacher and Class of ’03 graduate, goes over lesson with student Jacalin Adams during recent class. (Amarr Croskey, For The Birmingham Times)

“Pride and Dignity”

That inspiration gave Parker students a certain air, said McNealy: “To some people that would seem like an arrogance, but it wasn’t. It was pride.”

“People mistake that pride for a haughtiness, which it’s not,” he added. “It’s just an unvarnished view of ourselves as marginalized people. We don’t see ourselves as minorities. We see ourselves as the best of the best.”

And the students looked out for one another: “We didn’t want to see someone else fail,” said Jackie Shaw (class of 1982).

“It was always a friendly competition. It was competition with your class work. You wanted to make that good grade because [your classmate] was making a good grade. It was just pride and dignity. With Parker, it gave you that confidence that you could do almost anything,” Shaw added.

Parker students also developed tight bonds, said Veronica Jackson (class of 1971).

“[We] mingled together, and it was not always through academics. They had sororities and fraternities. Our social life was centered around Parker, and Parker provided the most social skills you could get for kids at that age.”

“Privileged”

Pamela Steele (class of 1982) knew she would always find a way to give back to her alma mater. Last year, she became president of the A.H. Parker United Alumni Association.

“It had such a rich history. I can remember being a little girl, and my dad bringing my sister and me to the football games. Parker has always been part of my life,” she said.

Founded in 1996, the Alumni Association supports students and their needs.

“We give scholarships to graduating seniors each year. If it is something that is needed here, we try to find out how we can assist,” said Steele, a student from 1978 to 1982 who remembers forming lifelong friendships.

“When I came to Parker, it was like I was able to make friends easily here,” she said. “I found a lot of people who were like me that I fit in with. “

McNealy tells his students to continue Parker’s rich tradition, he said.

“Add to the story,” he tells them. “You are a privileged person to be immersed in a narrative that began [in 1900] and has seen people go to [some of] the highest offices in this land. You are part of that story. Don’t take from it—add to it.”

(See Part One here)

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