- High schools in the US have changed dramatically since the late 19th century.
- During the Progressive Era in the early 1900s, social and political reform sparked increasing rates of high-school enrollment.
- In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.
- Since then, activists have continued to combat racial inequalities in education and beyond.
- Vintage photos of high schools also show how much gym classes, school buses, and more have changed.
Until the 20th century, high schools were typically attended only by the children of middle- and upper-class families.
During the early 1900s, the country entered a period of significant social and political reform, which sparked increasing rates of high-school enrollment.
Since then, secondary education in the US has seen numerous dramatic changes, particularly following the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Brown v. The Board of Education, which made segregation in public schools illegal.
Below, see 14 fascinating vintage photos that show how much high schools have evolved over the past two centuries.
Until the early 20th century, high schools were typically attended only by the children of middle- and upper-class families.
In 1870, there were only about 500 public high schools with 50,000 students in the US, according to the US Department of Education. Four decades later, high-school attendance was still low, with only about 10% of American youth enrolled.
During this period, secondary schools were largely reserved for the children of wealthy parents who could afford to spend their days in the classroom instead of working to support their families.
Certain forms of physical education — like a wall-climbing apparatus from the late 1890s — are unrecognizable today.
According to the Library of Congress, Progressive Era reformers introduced physical education programs "on a wide scale" in the 1890s.
Students rode horse-drawn coaches to get to school in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
These early school "buses" were known as "school hacks" or "kid hacks."
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