Harrison Technical High School

Carter H. Harrison Technical High School was a high school in South Lawndale, Chicago, Illinois. It was a part of Chicago Public Schools.

It opened in 1912.

For a period Harrison had a branch school, Froebel, which served grades 9 through 10 and drew students from Hispanic neighborhoods. Students from Froebel moved onto the main campus for grades 11 and 12.

In the 1960s gangs in the area began to adopt a racial identity, and the Mexican student population at the main campus, while still small relative to the overall population, was increasing; at the time racial tension between black and Mexican students increased. In 1972 most of the students at Forebel were of Mexican origin and 75% of the students were Spanish-speaking. During March 1972 protests from the Mexican-American community demanding better conditions from CPS schools, 45% of the students at Froebel did not attend.

It closed in 1983.

References

• Alvarez, René Luis. "A Community that Would Not Take 'No' for an Answer: Mexican Americans, the Chicago Public Schools, and the Founding of Benito Juarez High School," Journal of Illinois History (2014) 17:1 pp 78-98.

Further reading

• "Harrison High Shut Down." Chicago Reporter. June 29, 1983.
• Winter, O. "Chicago Intelligence Test in Harrison Technical High School." The School Review. Vol. 28, No. 10 (Dec., 1920), pp. 772-775.
• Kosell, Edward (Loyola University Chicago). "A Historical Study of Vocational Education in the Chicago Public and Technical and Vocational High Schools, 1917-1963" (PhD thesis). June 1965.