This morning, Boston Mayor Wu and School Superintendent Mary Skipper gave the McKinley schools in the South End a new name. The Melvin H. King South End Academy on Warren Avenue, which serves students from kindergarten through 12th grade, now recognizes the immeasurable impact of civil rights activist Mel King.
King was a founding member of the Ward 4 Democratic Committee. He spent his life in Boston working for racial justice and economic opportunity as a state representative. His was a powerful community voice for educational access.
The Boston Globe‘s Susannah Sudborough points out that ”the idea to rename the school after King was first proposed in March, 2021 by Edith Bazile, a longtime local school advocate. In her proposal, she wrote that President William McKinley, for whom the schools [were] named, ignored calls to take action against lynchings and other violence toward Black people in the South in the 1880s.”
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The Melvin H. King South End Academy is one of three high schools within Boston’s Ward 4. Students in 7th and 8th grades who attend one of these schools—as well as students who reside in our Back Bay, South End and Fenway neighborhoods—are invited to apply for a Ward 4 Dems Scholarship. The Scholarship recognizes youth who are involved in community programs and projects that make life better.
Please pass the word about the Ward 4 Dems Scholarship Program to a deserving student!
Deadline for application: May 31, 2023
