Cameron Street High School was one of two schools for African Americans in Nashville prior to desegregation. The final all-black class graduated in 1971. The Gothic Revival styled school was designed by architect Henry C. Hibbs and constructed 1939-1940 with support from the Public Works Administration (Van West, 2001). Nile E. Yearwood was the builder/contractor. In 1954, the African American firm of McKissack and McKissack designed the additional wing.
The school was recently taken over by Nashville Charter School (Grace Tatter, 60 years after Brown: Nashville Charter School looks toward students’ futures while celebrating school’s past, June 2, 2014. Chalkbeat Tennesee: Education News). Now known as Cameron College Prep, the majority of the students are Latino, and several nationalities and ethnic groups are present, with 30 languages being spoken, and 75% speak a language other than English at home. The school’s mission:
We will do whatever it takes to graduate 100% of our students and send them to a four year college.
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