For 12 years, from 1959 to 1971, Rosa A. Temple High School was more than just the high school for African-American students in Vicksburg and Warren County.

“Rosa A. Temple High School was well-known in most, if not all, cities in the State of Mississippi for its academic achievements, football, basketball, baseball and track programs, and outstanding choirs,” Mary Logan, who coordinated the effort to rename Baldwin Ferry Road to Rosa A. Temple Drive, wrote in a letter to the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

“Former students of this school went on to play with professional teams in the NFL, and a student was invited to the Ted Mack TV Program for music. Some of the students who graduated from this school are now doctors, educators, lawyers, teachers, military brigadier generals, air pilots and other high ranking members of the armed forces.”

When school opened in 1959, it replaced J.G.H. Bowman High School, which had been built in 1954.

Rosa A. Temple, the school’s namesake, was born Sept. 4, 1869. After attending Cherry Street High School and Jackson College, she began teaching in Vicksburg in 1885 when she was 16 years old.

In more than 60 years as an educator, Mrs. Temple taught all levels, but spent most of her years as a high school English teacher. She was known for exacting, uncompromising standards of excellence and for inspiring students and those who worked with her. She retired in 1947.

She died in 1972 at the age of 102 and is buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery.

Both Mrs. Temple and the school have been honored over the past seven years.

The school is remembered with a mural on Levee Street dedicated in 2008. In 2011, a new wing at Vicksburg Junior High School — the school that once bore her name — was dedicated to Mrs. Temple.

In November 2015, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen granted Logan’s wish — and the wishes of other Rosa A. Temple alumni — and renamed Baldwin Ferry Road, which runs in front of the school, Rosa A. Temple Drive.

The plaque set in front of the high school’s riverfront mural best summarizes the importance of Rosa A. Temple High School to the community and its students.

“Noted for its academics and athletics, Rosa A. Temple High School became one of the most prestigious high schools in the state of Mississippi. The philosophy of this school was based upon the belief that every child, regardless of social position, or intelligence, should have an opportunity to totally develop his or her individual abilities and interests, so that he or she may be able to practice those ideals which characterize good citizens of a democracy.”