Courtesy photo Reunion Dance 1992 .
Courtesy photo A winning team , Feb . 5 , 1959 . attended and if walls could talk .
The school has a history of well over 100 years . It was originally titled Athens Colored School and was the first public school for African-Americans . Established in 1876 on Needmore Avenue , now called North Palestine Street , classes were originally held in the Black First Baptist Church and expanded to a two-room schoolhouse renamed Blackshear by Richard C . Fisher in honor of a former professor at Prairieview College .
Fisher joined the faculty in 1914 where he married his wife , Sallie Joe , also a teacher there . The couple wed on Valentine ’ s Day the same year . He later became principal , replacing Prof . A . L . Harris . In 1924 the school was accredited and a new six room schoolhouse was built there in 1932 and renamed Fisher School .
In spite of hand-medown materials , books with pages removed , no air conditioning , and used uniforms moms had to sew up , the students got out on the field or court and were part of a “ happy people .” There was a sense of community , something that was somewhat lost during the transition of merging the Athens community as a whole .
According to an earlier article , Fisher “ endeavored to prepare himself to assist
12 Greater Athens Magazine | February 2022