Washington High students seek to rename Cherry Avenue after civil rights activists
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Washington High School student Gerald Comedy, at right, holds a new sign for Cherry Alley, along with, at left, Phyllis Waller, teacher Jeff Bunner and classmates Ben Price, Luke Smithyman, Sophia Dragaich and Kassie Harmon looking on Tuesday in Washington.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Washington High School student Luke Smithyman holds a new sign for E. Cherry Alley, as classmates, at right, Kassie Harmon, Gerald Comedy, Ben Price, teacher Jeff Bunner and Sophia Dragaich look on Tuesday in Washington.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Washington High School student Alexis Hyes, left, talks during teacher Jeff Bunner’s class Tuesday in Washington.
An advanced-placement U.S. history class at Washington High School wants to rename Cherry Avenue in the city after two civil rights activists.
The east side of the avenue, off South Main Street, would be named Martin Luther King Avenue, and the west side, near the county courthouse, would be named Louis E. Waller Way, in honor of a local leader for civil rights in Washington County.
“Every year we have a year-end project,” said Jeff Bunner, Washington history and social studies teacher. “I give the kids something to do, and it always involves something they can leave to posterity. Sometimes we try to do something for the community.”
He said the class has been discussing civil rights in Washington and surrounding communities. When they discovered there was no local Martin Luther King Boulevard, they decided to try to rename a city street after the national civil rights icon. Bunner said there are between 900 and 1,000 Martin Luther King Boulevards across the country.
“To have a street named for them uptown would bring them to mind for everyone driving up Main Street,” Bunner said.
Sophia Dragich, a junior, said that many students think of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as simply a day off of school, and don’t necessarily take time to acknowledge his role in civil rights.
“We want to bring honor to them,” she said. “They had done a lot for us.”
The group of 17 students watched a documentary on Martin Luther King and dug into local history. Bunner said they ran a parallel timeline with what was going on here in Washington compared with national events. They researched Louis Waller’s history and what he did for the civil rights movement in Washington before he died in 2009.
“We didn’t know that it was such a big movement here in Washington,” said junior Isabel Marshall.
Gerald Comedy, a junior, said they learned how Waller was instrumental in growing the Washington branch of the NAACP from 1960 to 1975, and how he helped desegregate Washington, from the schools, to restaurants, theaters and the pool. He also helped establish the LeMoyne Center, molding it into what it is today, the students said.
“It’s shocking to realize that was our grandparents that lived through that,” said Kassie Harmon, a junior. “It wasn’t that long ago. We want people to know about what they did.”
Much of the research on Waller, the students received from his daughter Phyllis Waller, former president of Washington’s NAACP.
“I’m very excited about this project,” Phyllis Waller said. “I’m sure he would be too if he was alive.”
The class had previously talked about renaming Allison Avenue, where the high school sits, but it involved too many residents who would have to change their address. Cherry Avenue was a better choice, the class decided, because the name change would affect only a few businesses and property owners.
Some of the students and Bunner visited the city council meeting Monday to ask if they would be supportive of the street name change.
“It’s a good project,” Mayor Scott Putnam said during the meeting. “I commend you for taking the steps to come here.”
Putnam said Tuesday that the students would have to notify all the tenants, businesses and property owners of their intentions and collect feedback before a public hearing is scheduled. He said he doesn’t anticipate any push-back on the project.
“I think there’s good reason for it to happen,” he said. “I think at the end of the day, it will work out well for everybody.”
Bunner called the students working on this project “top-notch.” He said they not only learned about their community’s history, but the importance of being involved in bettering the community.
“We want all of these kids to be agents of positive social change,” he said.
Alexis Hayes, a junior, said that to her, the purpose of their research and project was, “especially in this climate, to shine some light on the steps we made and the steps we need to make moving forward.”