Opened on Jan. 23, 1950, BTW High School was likely the first state-of-the-art building for African-American students in the City of Shreveport. The cost to build the mid-century modern structure was over $1.5 million in 1963, which is equivalent to more than $14 million today. It was even featured in Life Magazine!

Our school was built on 33 acres on Milam Street and was named in honor of Washington who came "Up From Slavery" and grew to become an educational leader during and after Reconstruction, serving as the Founding Principal of Tuskegee College (now University) in 1881.

By the 1960s, we became the largest African American high school in all of Caddo Parish. We have a history of being a safe haven and influential force in the Lakeside-Allendale community.

In 2015, our prestigious institution was added to the National Register of Historic Places. One of the reasons we were placed on the register is from the indelible mark students and faculty made on the Civil Rights Movement in Shreveport.

On Sept. 22, 1963, Shreveport police attacked the congregation inside of Little Union Baptist Church, riding into the sanctuary on horseback and assaulting people with batons. They beat Pastor Harry Blake nearly to death.

On Sept. 23, the next day, around 200 students from Booker T. Washington High School met on the school’s campus and began protesting police violence against Blake and others. The students planned their protest on their own, and were met on the next block with police wearing riot gear.

Law enforcement sprayed tear gas and even beat some of them with nightsticks. Some BTW students were arrested, including Pastor Austen, who ended up being expelled from Caddo Parish and jailed for over a month.

In September 2023, the students, community, and faculty came together to Finish the March on the 60th anniversary.