History of Burke
1910 Construction of school is completed
1911 January 3, the school opens with 375 African American students
1919 A legislative act allows the faculty and principal to be replaced with African
Americans
1921 Board member James E. Burke dies and school is renamed Burke Industrial School in
his honor
1923 First 11th grade class graduates
1930s Athletics begin
1938 Football team wins its 1st lower and state championship
1940s A band and 250 voice choir were begun
1946 The faculty receive pay equal to that of their white counterparts
WWII veterans enroll at Burke
1948 First 12th grade class graduates
1949 School receives "A" rating by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools;
enrollment 1,827
1951 Modie Risher coaches first baseball team
1953 50 Korean War veterans enroll at Burke
1954 Burke enrollment nears 2000
1960s Approximately 24 students arrested in lunch counter desegregation/ civil rights
protests
1963 Former student Harvey Gannt 1st African American to integrate Clemson University,
Delano Meriwether 1st African American to enter Duke Medical University
1966 School granted charter to establish chapter of Modern Music Masters
1969 Adult trade classes begin
1970 School offers vocational, general, and college preparation tracts
1971 Bernard Deas 1st African American to graduate from the Medical University School
of Medicine
1972 Students walk out in protest over poor physical condition of school
1976 Basketball team wins boys 4A state championship and John Wilford names SC High
School Coach of the Year
1979 Gymnastics team created
1984 Basketball team wins boys 4A state championship; 1700 students; cafeteria that seats
250
1988 Charleston County Magnet School placed at Burke
1993 1st school in SC to have campus-based health clinic
1994 Vocational studies program shut down despite protest
1996 Academic Magnet High School leaves Burke
2000 Curriculum reorganized and generalized
2002 Construction begins on new facility
2005 New gym named in honor of Modie Risher; new Burke school (designed by former
student, Harvey Gannt) dedicated
2006 Charles Benton becomes principal
2010 Burke's centennial anniversary; enrollment 614
* Taken from 2010 Burke High School Yearbook