Boston Latin Academy Explained

Boston Latin Academy should not be confused with Boston Latin School.

Boston Latin Academy
Seal Image:BLA-logo.png
Seal Size:150px
Motto:'Vita Tua Sit Sincera' (Latin)
Motto Translation:'Let Thy Life be Sincere'
Type:Public coeducational exam school
Gender:Coeducational
Head Name:Head of School
Head:Gavin Smith
Faculty:about 90
Enrollment:1,767 (2018–19)[1]
Grades Label:Grade level
Grades:7–12
Streetaddress:205 Townsend Street
Country:United States
Colors:Black and gold
Athletics:Dragons
Nickname:"BLA" "Dragons"
Mascot:Jabberwock/Dragon
Rival:John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics & Science[2] formerly Boston Technical High School
Newspaper:Dragon Tales
Test Name:ISEE
National Ranking:279[3]

Boston Latin Academy (BLA) is a public exam school founded in 1878 in Boston, Massachusetts providing students in grades 7th through 12th a classical preparatory education.

Originally named Girls' Latin School, it became the first college preparatory high school for girls in the United States.[4] Coeducational since 1972, the school is located in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston and is part of Boston Public Schools (BPS).

History

Boston Latin Academy (BLA) was established on November 27, 1877 as Girls' Latin School (GLS). The school was founded with the intention to give a classical education and college preparatory training to girls. A plan to admit girls to Public Latin School was formed by an executive committee of the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women. Henry Fowle Durant, founder of Wellesley College and an advocate of higher education for women,[5] was instrumental in outlining the legal route for the school to be established. A petition with a thousand signatures was presented to the School Board in September 1877. The board referred the question to the subcommittee on high schools. Ultimately the subcommittee recommended that a separate school for girls be established. John Tetlow was unanimously elected by the School Committee on January 22, 1878 as its first headmaster. On February 4, 1878, Tetlow accepted the first thirty-seven students.[6]

Girls' Latin School opened on West Newton Street in Boston's South End on February 12, 1878 sharing the building with Girls' High School. The thirty-seven students were divided according to aptitude into three classes; the Sixth, Fifth, and Third class. The first graduating class in 1880 included Alice M. Mills, Charlotte W. Rogers, Vida D. Scudder, Mary L. Mason, Alice S. Rollins, and Miriam S. Witherspoon; all six were accepted to Smith College.

In 1888, Abbie Farwell Brown, Sybil Collar, and Virginia Holbrook decided to create a school newspaper. The name Jabberwock was picked from a list that Abbie Farwell Brown submitted. It was taken from "Jabberwocky", the famous nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass. They wrote to Lewis Carroll in London about the name and received a handwritten letter giving them permission for its use. The Jabberwock is one of the oldest school newspapers in the United States.[7]

The number of students grew each year. In 1898, the school committee moved the first four classes to a building in Copley Square while the rest remained in the older building. In 1907, the school moved into a new building, shared with the Boston Normal School.

The school remained there until 1955, when Teachers' College expanded, forcing Girls' Latin School to relocate to the former Dorchester High School for Girls building located in Codman Square.

In 1972, boys were admitted for the first time to Girls' Latin School. The school name was changed in 1975 and the first graduating class of Boston Latin Academy was in 1977.

In 1981, Latin Academy moved back into the Fenway area, this time to Ipswich Street, across from Fenway Park. It remained there until the summer of 1991, when it moved again, this time to its present location in the former Roxbury Memorial and Boston Technical High School building, located on Townsend St. in Roxbury.

In 2001, Boston Latin Academy became the first high school to form an official Eastern Massachusetts High School Red Cross Club.[8] The club is one of the biggest in the school with over 100 members. Latin Academy's Red Cross Club is also one of the biggest high school Red Cross Club in Eastern Massachusetts.

94% of its graduating students go on to attend four-year colleges. In 2010 Boston Latin Academy received a Silver Medal as one of the top public high schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.[9]

Locations

PhotoDescriptionAddress and CoordinatesNotes
1878–1907
Built from 1869 through 1871, the building was home to Girls' Latin from its inception in 1878 (sharing space with Girls' High and Normal School) until 1907. It was razed in 1960 and a playground now occupies the site.		75 West Newton Street, South End
42.3579°N -71.0598°W		[10]
1898–1907
In February 1898, 240 students were moved to the former Chauncy Hall School building in Copley Square which had been vacated two years earlier. The remaining pupils continued studies at the West Newton Street location.		593–597 Boylston Street, Back Bay
42.3506°N -71.077°W		[11] [12]
1907–1955
Girls' Latin School expanded from approximately 421 students in 1907 to over 1,200 students in 1955, the year in which State Teachers College at Boston took over the entirety of the campus. The building later became part of Massachusetts College of Art and Design.		Huntington Avenue, Fenway
42.3373°N -71.0994°W
1955–1981
The former Dorchester High School and Dorchester High School for Girls building in Codman Square, originally completed in 1901.		380 Talbot Avenue, Dorchester
42.2903°N -71.0701°W		[13] [14]
1981–1991
The school returned to the Fenway area in a former annex of Boston State College. After BLA was relocated this building housed Boston Arts Academy and was later razed in 2019.		174 Ipswich Street, Fenway
42.3463°N -71.0949°W
1991–present
Since 1991, the school has been located in the former home of the Roxbury Memorial High School, and later Boston Technical High School.		205 Townsend Street, Roxbury
42.3161°N -71.0845°W

Heads of School

The title of the school's chief administrator was changed from "Headmaster" to "Head of School" during the 2020–2021 school year.

Notable alumni

Known class year listed. Non-graduate alumni noted as NG.

Academia, science and technology

Business

Arts and music

Athletics

Film, television and theatre

Writers and journalists

Government and diplomacy

Judiciary and law

Medicine

Politicians

Activists

Other

Athletics

Latin Academy offers a wide variety of sports. The team nickname is Dragons, analogous to the original school mascot the Jabberwock.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Enrollment Data (2021-22) - Boston Latin Academy (00350545).
  2. Web site: Bailey Belony sparks Boston Latin Academy to a triumph over Thanksgiving rival O'Bryant at Fenway Park. Boston Globe. November 22, 2022.
  3. Web site: 2022 Best U.S. High Schools. U.S. News & World Report.
  4. Web site: About BLA. Boston Latin Academy. August 13, 2023.
  5. Web site: College History . Trustees of Wellesley College . December 28, 2018.
  6. Web site: History of Girls Latin School 1878-1976 . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/do6me-PBTlw . 2021-12-19 . live. YouTube . May 19, 2011 . December 28, 2018.
  7. Web site: Boston Latin Academy ~ Girls' Latin School Alumni Association . 2013-03-03 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130120151712/http://blagls.org/main/page/history/C19/ . 2013-01-20 .
  8. Web site: Red Cross Clubs | Eastern Massachusetts | American Red Cross . Redcross.org . 2018-04-09.
  9. Web site: Boston Latin Academy: Best High Schools - USNews.com . 2010-05-03 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100401101143/http://www.usnews.com/listings/high-schools/massachusetts/boston_latin_academy . 2010-04-01 .
  10. Web site: History. https://web.archive.org/web/20120727062356/http://blagls.org/main/page/history/C27. July 27, 2012. dead .
  11. News: 1898-02-25. Girls' Latin School to Occupy Former Chauncy Hall. 4. The Boston Globe. 2024-05-02. Newspapers.com.
  12. News: 1898-02-28. CHAUNCY HALL AGAIN OCCUPIED. 1. Boston Evening Transcript. 2024-05-02. Newspapers.com.
  13. News: 1955-02-22. Girls Latin to Move; School Board Ends Year-Long Debate. 1. The Boston Globe. 2024-05-02. Newspapers.com.
  14. News: 1901-12-06. Dorchester High, One of the Finest in the Country, Formally Turned Over. 11. The Boston Globe. 2024-05-02. Newspapers.com.
  15. Web site: On Honor Roll. Charlestown Patriot via docdroid.net.
  16. Web site: Boston Latin Academy Racial-Ethnic Council March, 1980.
  17. News: Boston Globe . NEW HOME FOR LATIN ACADEMY; BOSTON LATIN ACADEMY MOVING TO THE FENWAY AREA. August 13, 1981.
  18. Web site: Yvonne Young Clark and Carol Lawson Interview . SWE Storycorps Interviews . Society of Women Engineers . October 26, 2007 . June 28, 2017 . March 26, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170326135740/http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/images/stories/clark/Yvonne-Clark-2007-SWE-StoryCorps-Interview-Transcript.pdf . dead .
  19. Web site: Outstanding Alumnae/i. https://web.archive.org/web/20150203003515/http://blagls.org/main/alumnae_i/outstanding. February 3, 2015. dead .
  20. News: 1914-06-19. Girls' Latin High. 10. Boston Evening Transcript. 2022-01-24. Newspapers.com.
  21. Web site: Memorial to Mary Welleck Garretson. Charles H. Behire, Jr.. The Geological Society of America, Inc.. August 20, 2023.
  22. Web site: Teaching Ruby Bridges. June 27, 2014. July 30, 2015. The Boston Globe. Henry. Barbara. Helman. Scott.
  23. Encyclopedia: Maud W. Makemson . Vassar Encyclopedia . Vassar College . June 28, 2017.
  24. Bever . Marilynn Arsey . 1976 . The women of M.I.T., 1871-1941 : who they were, what they achieved . 30 May 2022 . MIT libraries. 1721.1/33804?show=full . Thesis .
  25. Web site: West Roxbury Women's Heritage Trail: We Will Walk in Her Steps. Boston Women's Heritage Trail.
  26. Web site: Ware. Susan . Barbara Miller Solomon. 2023-03-30. Jewish Women's Archive . en.
  27. Web site: At Boston alma mater, Airbnb co-founder touts funding. September 24, 2016. December 29, 2018. Boston Herald. Graham. Jordan.
  28. Web site: Tonn. Jenna. 2019. The Woman Zoologist Who Found a Home for Her Science in Chicken Farming. live. 2021-10-02. Lady Science. en-US. https://web.archive.org/web/20210429062837/https://www.ladyscience.com/features/edith-buckingham-zoologist-turned-chicken-farmer-dog-breeder. 2021-04-29.
  29. Web site: Alumni Boston Latin Academy (formerly Girls' Latin School). Finalsite. Boston Public Schools. 2022. August 18, 2023.
  30. Web site: Louise Bogan's Life and Career. https://web.archive.org/web/20160325145204/https://english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/bogan/life.htm. 2016-03-25. dead.
  31. Web site: Lorraine O'Grady: From Bureaucrat to Rock Critic to World-Renowned Artist. 2017-11-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20171108035552/http://www.lennyletter.com/culture/interviews/a931/lorraine-ogrady-interview/. 2017-11-08. dead.
  32. [s:Page:Woman's who's who of America, 1914-15.djvu/528|Woman's who's who of America, 1914–15]
  33. Book: A Century of Women's Basketball: from Frailty to Final Four. Hult. Joan S.. Trekell. Marianna. National Association for Girls and Women in Sport . Reston, Va . 1991 . 978-0-88314-490-9 .
  34. Book: Roberts, David. The Life and Adventures of Bradford Washburn, America's Boldest Mountaineer. HarperCollins Publishers. 2010. 978-0-06-156095-8. New York. 184, 190–191, 192–204, 226–235.
  35. Willard, Frances E., and Mary A. Livermore, eds. A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-Seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life. Moulton, 1893, pp. 5-6.
  36. Book: D'Ambrosio, Brian. Montana Entertainers: Famous and Almost Forgotten. 2019. Arcadia Publishing. Charleston, South Carolina. 978-1-439-66733-0.
  37. Web site: "Fenway's Best Players" Broadcasting. 2023-08-20. fenwayparkdiaries.com. Fred Rapoport.
  38. Web site: Mary Caroline Crawford '07 · Suffrage at Simmons . 2022-08-09 . simmons.libguides.com. Simmons University Archives.
  39. Web site: Theodora Kimball Hubbard The Cultural Landscape Foundation. tclf.org. 2020-01-16.
  40. News: Mary McGrory, 85, Longtime Washington Columnist, Dies. The New York Times. 2004-04-23. 2016-01-13. 0362-4331. Robin. Toner.
  41. Web site: Appreciation: Mary McGrory, Post columnist, dies. www.natcath.org. 2016-01-13.
  42. News: Collins. Bud. 2003. Carol Newsom, was 54; pioneering tennis photographer. The Boston Globe.
  43. News: Eileen Donovan, 81, Former Ambassador. 4 February 2020. The New York Times. December 25, 1996.
  44. Web site: Ubben Posse Fellow Interviews: Hon. Patti Saris. The Posse Foundation.
  45. Web site: Hannah Glidden Myrick (1871–1973) . Women Working, 1800–1930 . Harvard University Library Open Collections Program . June 28, 2017.
  46. Web site: Dorchester's State Representatives team for the next 2 years. The Dorchester Post.
  47. Web site: Ruth Batson, leading figure in education, civil rights. Abel. David. Driscoll Jr.. Edgar J.. October 29, 2003. archive.boston.com. 2019-01-17.
  48. Web site: Ruth Batson's high school graduation portrait. Fourteen portraits of Ruth Batson. Harvard University Library. October 18, 2016.
  49. Book: Black Women Oral History Project: Interview with Ellen Jackson . . 1968 . ii-vii.
  50. Web site: Happy Birthday Sarah Ida Shaw Martin!. franbecque.com. Fran Becque. August 20, 2023.

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