History

  • History

    Jim Hill High School Jim Hill High School is proud of its heritage as part of the Jackson Public School System.  We are justly proud of the miraculous growth and improvement in regard to the physical structure and public interest. 

    Jim Hill was founded in 1912 by James Hill who was an outstanding leader that served with distinction as the National Republican Committeeman from Mississippi, hence the name "Jim Hill" High School. This school was established as a secondary institution for African Americans in the Jackson, Mississippi area. The former building was established on Lynch Street as an elementary school to educate the youth of West Jackson.  

    In 1952 to accommodate students in grades seven through twelve the school was expanded to a Junior-Senior High School. Due to the growth of the city, the continuously increasing enrollment and the expansion of the curriculum, the current building was constructed in 1966 in the Washington Addition neighborhood leaving the junior high with a new name, the W. W. Blackburn School, where a new school was established in 2010. In 1992 the International Baccalaureate Program was established at Jim Hill High School. 

    Jim Hill High School moved on Fortune Street in southwest Jackson; however, the street was renamed Coach Fred Harris Street in honor of Coach Fred Harris who served as a teacher, administrator and basketball coach at Jim Hill for nearly 20 years. Coach Harris passed away in 2009, but his legacy lives on at the "Hill".