Nearly 30 years after walking the halls of Frederick A. Douglass High School, Reggie Ford still remembers the pride and creativity that defined his experience as a student in the Ninth Ward—memories shaped not just inside the building, but right outside his home.
Ford lived in the area for more than 20 years, often looking out his window at the school that played such a central role in his life and community. He says Douglass wasn’t just a campus—it was a symbol of history, opportunity, and cultural identity for generations of Black students in New Orleans. He also remembers when the school carried a different name—Francis T. Nicholls High School—when his two older brothers attended before him, marking a long-standing family connection to the campus. He recalled that “Almost everybody in the 9th Ward wanted to go to that school.”
Now, decades later, Ford says repeated school closures and mergers have shaken schools across much of New Orleans, with Douglass being only the latest example. He described it as “Same cycle displacement keeping our community off balance,” adding “How one second you teaching them school pride, the colors the name the history, and the now on the back end when you want to tell them—you telling them oh that name is not important… Frederick Douglass’ name is not important.”…