Board approves sale of segregated Georgia school

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (AP) — A developer is set to acquire a former school campus in an Atlanta suburb that served Black children during segregation, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Thursday.

The Bailey-Johnson School and gymnasium in Alpharetta will become an office complex, though plans show that the school’s history will be reflected at the new development, according to the AJC.

The Fulton County School Board approved the $6 million sale on June 7. The parties are scheduled to close the sale later this month, developer Bruce Fernald told the newspaper.

Bailey-Johnson, which was open from 1950 to 1968, was the only school available to Black students in north Fulton County that went beyond 7th grade. It was named after George Bailey, a blacksmith and shop owner, and Warren Johnson, a former slave and advocate for the education of Black children.

It was used as a maintenance facility in recent years.

The new development is expected to preserve the steel sash windows and old brick façade on the former school building and gymnasium. Historian Charles Grogan, who attended the school in 1953, gave Fernald more than 600 photos of students that will be used to honor the site’s history.

Grogan plans to take his great-granddaughter, who is 3, to the remodeled campus.

“I want to show her where I went to school,” he said.