Philadelphia High School for Girls

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Philadelphia High School for Girls" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Philadelphia High School for Girls

Address

1400 West Olney Avenue

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

19141

United States

Coordinates| 40°02′18″N 75°08′46″W﻿ / ﻿40.038342°N 75.146066°W﻿ / 40.038342; -75.146066
Information
Former names|

* Girls' Normal School (1848–1854)
* Girls' High School of Philadelphia (1854–1860)
* Girls' High and Normal School (1860–1893)

Type| Public college preparatory magnet school
Motto| Vincit qui se vincit
(He conquers who conquers himself)
Established| 1848; 177 years ago (1848)
School district| School District of Philadelphia
Principal| KaTiedra Argro
Staff| 46.00 (FTE)[1]
Grades| 9–12
Enrollment| 894 (2022–23)[1]
Student to teacher ratio| 19.43[1]
Color(s)|  White and Yellow
Mascot| Gazelle
Website| girlshs.philasd.org

The Philadelphia High School for Girls, also known as Girls' High, is a public college preparatory magnet high school for girls in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Established in 1848, it was one of the first public schools for women. It is a magnet school in the School District of Philadelphia with a competitive admissions process. Vincit qui se vincit (she conquers who conquers herself) is the school's motto. The school is located at Broad Street and Olney Avenue in the Logan section of Philadelphia.

## History

[edit]

Girls Normal School, Sergeant St. above 9th, 1853 Girls High School, 17th and Spring Garden Sts., 1876 New Girls Normal School, 13th and Spring Garden Sts., 1893 The previous Girls' High campus, now Julia R. Masterman School, which housed the school from 1933 to 1958

In 1848, the Girls' Normal School was established as the first secondary public school for women in Pennsylvania. It was also the first municipally supported teachers' school in the U.S. The first instructional session was held on February 1, 1848. By June 1848, there were 149 enrolled students, an incredibly large enrollment for a school at that time. The school continued to grow, forcing a move in 1854 to Sergeant Street between 9th and 10th Streets.

In April 1854, the name of the school was changed to the Girls' High School of Philadelphia. By June 1860, 65 graduates had received diplomas bearing the Girls' High School name. In 1860, the name of the school was again changed to The Girls' High and Normal School to better define the "design of the institution" as a school for an education confined to academic subjects and for future teachers.

In October 1876, a new school which "for convenience and comfort will probably have no superior" was constructed at Seventeenth and Spring Garden Streets. At the time it was surpassed in size only by Girard College and the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1893, the High School and Normal School were separated into two distinct institutions. It was at this time that the institution became known as the Philadelphia High School for Girls. The school offered three parallel courses: a general course of three years with a possible postgraduate year, a classical course of four years, and a business course of three years. In 1898, a Latin-Scientific course "was designed to prepare students for the Women's Medical College, Cornell University, Vassar, Wellesley, Smith, Barnard, or such courses in the University of Pennsylvania as were open to women."

In the early 1930s, the school survived attempts to merge it with William Penn High School. Alumnae, faculty and friends of the school dedicated themselves to its preservation.

In 1933, a new school was erected at Seventeenth and Spring Garden Streets to replace the one which had stood on the site since 1876. This historic building, now the site of Julia R. Masterman School, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

In May 1976, Vice Principal Dr. Florence Snite sued Katherine Day for libel because she had organized a demonstration protesting the administration's policy which barred lesbian alumnae from attending the prom.[2]

In 1958, the school again outgrew its location and moved to its current site at Broad Street and Olney Avenue. Located down the street at Ogontz and Olney Avenue is Central High School, which, until 1983, was an all-male school. Prior to Central turning co-educational, the two schools had a partnership.

## School song

[edit]

The school song has two parts. Alma Mater was written by Grade Gordon (1906) with music by F. Edna Davis (1906). Fidelitas was written by Emily Loman in June 1915.[3]

## School seals

[edit]

* Tree of Knowledge, Original School Seal

* Nike of Samothrace or Winged Victory, School Seal

* Tree of Knowledge, School Seal

## Notable alumnae

[edit]

This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article and are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (December 2020)

|

* Erika Alexander \- actress and producer
* Gloria Allred \- attorney
* Sarah A. Anderson \- politician
* Leslie Esdaile Banks \- novelist
* Deborah Batts \- Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
* Becky Birtha \- poet and author
* Susan Braudy \- author, journalist and Pulitzer nominee
* Elaine Brown \- first woman head of the Black Panther Party
* Vanessa Lowery Brown \- Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives who was convicted of bribery[4]
* Blondell Reynolds Brown \- politician; only woman to serve as Philadelphia City Councilmember At-Large 1999-2015
* Bebe Moore Campbell \- author
* Mary Schmidt Campbell \- president of Spelman College
* Barbara Chase-Riboud \- artist, sculptor, bestselling novelist and award-winning poet
* Constance Clayton \- first woman and first African American Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia
* Mae Virginia Cowdery \- poet
* Maria Donatucci \- PA State Representative of the 185th District & current PA Chairwoman of Civil Service Committee (1972)
* Reed Erickson \- philanthropist; transgender man who provided early support to the LGBT movement
* Jessie Redmon Fauset \- Harlem Renaissance novelist; editor of The Crisis
* Eileen Folson \- Grammy-nominated musician, Broadway composer (1974)
* Shirley Clarke Franklin \- first woman mayor of Atlanta, GA
* Vanessa Northington Gamble \- physician; authority on public health; chaired the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Legacy Committee
* Julie Gold \- Grammy-winning songwriter, singer (1974)
* Tina Sloan Green \- athlete
* Edith Grossman \- translator of modern Latin American literature
* Helene Hanff \- author, wrote 84 Charing Cross Road
* Barbara Harris \- first woman ordained a bishop of the Episcopal Church
* Lillian Hoban \- American illustrator and children's writer; published in over 1,400 publications; Lewis Carroll Shelf and Christopher Award winner
* Carolyn Haywood \- American children's writer, illustrator and painter
* Minnie Kenny \- cryptologist; early NSA employee; former Chief of Language and Linguistics for the Office of Techniques and Standards of the NSA [5]
* Milly Koss \- computing pioneer
* Virginia Knauer \- economic advisor to President Nixon and President Ford; first Director of the Office of Consumer Affairs
* Pinkie Gordon Lane \- first African American poet laureate of Louisiana
* Carol Lazzaro-Weis \- professor of Italian and French, translator and scholar
* Lisa Lopes \- member of the best-selling female American group of all time, TLC
* Frederica Massiah-Jackson \- President of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas
* Jeanette DuBois Meech – evangelist and industrial educator
* Pauline Oberdorfer Minor \- one of the founders of Delta Sigma Theta sorority
* Wanda Nesbitt \- U.S. Ambassador to Namibia (1974)
* Barbara Nissman \- concert pianist in the grand Romantic tradition
* Ann Hobson Pilot \- principal harpist, Boston Symphony Orchestra
* Howardena Pindell \- artist, first African American curator at MoMA, activist for minorities in the arts, researcher, and author
* Rebecca S. Pringle \- president, National Education Association[6]
* Liza Redfield \- American conductor, pianist, and composer; first woman to be the full-time conductor of a Broadway pit orchestra
* Katherine Gilmore Richardson \- politician; Philadelphia City Councilmember At-Large
* Lisa Richette \- Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas judge, legal pioneer, social activist, and author
* Judith Rodin \- first woman President of the University of Pennsylvania; President of the Rockefeller Foundation
* Jill Scott \- singer and actress
* Dolores Sloviter \- first woman named Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
* Marion Stokes \- civil rights activist, founding Board member for the National Organization for Women, and philanthropist. Data and media archivist who recorded every news broadcast for decades. Her 70,000 tapes are being digitized by the Internet Archive.[7][8][9]
* Zoe Strauss \- photographer; nominee member of Magnum Photos
* C. Delores Tucker \- politician and civil rights activist
* Mary L. Washington \- politician[10]
* Helen L. Weiss \- composer and pianist
* Lisa Yuskavage \- artist

## Controversy

[edit]

Hafsah Abdur-Rahman, a Muslim student, was denied a diploma on stage by the school principal after performing the Griddy dance during the graduation ceremony on June 9, 2023. [11]

## Notable faculty

[edit]

* Ida Augusta Keller \- plant physiologist; taught at the school, 1893–1930[12][13]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Girls HS". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
2. ^ HQ75. P55x. Philadelphia Gay News. January 3, 1976 – March 25, 1978. Vol. 1. No. 1 – Vol. 2. No. 6. Special Collections Research Center in Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
3. ^ "School Songs." Philadelphia High School for Girls.
4. ^ "Representative Vanessa Lowery Brown - PA House of Representatives". June 21, 2017. Archived from the original on June 21, 2017.
5. ^ "Cryptologic Almanac 50th Anniversary Series - Minnie Kenney - A Champion with a Red Rose" (PDF). NSA. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
6. ^ Writer, Wilford Shamlin III Tribune Staff. "Education official stresses the logic of diversity". The Philadelphia Tribune. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
7. ^ Coleman, Lauren deLisa. "How The Data This Woman Stored Could Change Your Life". Forbes.
8. ^ Writer, By Vernon Clark, Inquirer Staff. "Marion Stokes, coproducer of TV show". www.inquirer.com.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
9. ^ "RECORDER: THE MARION STOKES PROJECT | Activist Seeking Truth on TV 24/7". PBS.
10. ^ "Elect Mary Washington: About Mary". Archived from the original on September 23, 2010.
11. ^ "Girls' High grad speaks out after being denied diploma on stage after dancing during ceremony". 6abc.com. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
12. ^ Creese, Mary R. S. (1998). Ladies in the Laboratory? American and British Women in Science, 1800-1900: A Survey of Their Contributions to Research. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-3287-9.
13. ^ Stone, Witmer (December 2, 1932). "Ida Augusta Keller (1866-1932)". Bartonia (14): 59–60. Retrieved October 30, 2014.

## Sources

[edit]

* The Public Schools of Philadelphia: Historical, Biographical, Statistical by John Trevor Custis, Burk & McFetridge Co. Publisher, 1897, Pg. 153&c.: Girls' Normal School, Girl's High School, Girls' High and Normal School

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Philadelphia High School for Girls.

* Official website
* Girls' High School at the Wayback Machine (archived January 28, 2018);
* Girls' High School at the Wayback Machine (archived November 2, 2007)
* Alumnae Association Alumnae Association of the Philadelphia High School for Girls

* v
* t
* e

Schools in Philadelphia

School District of Philadelphia

5-12 schools|

* Girard Academic Music Program
* Julia R. Masterman School

6-12 schools|

* Penn Treaty School (neighborhood)

7-12 schools|

* Carver Engineering and Science

Neighborhood
high schools|

* Bartram
* Edison/Fareira
* Samuel S. Fels
* Frankford
* Benjamin Franklin
* Furness
* George Washington
* Kensington
* Martin Luther King
* Abraham Lincoln
* Northeast
* Olney
* Overbrook
* Roxborough
* Sayre
* South Philadelphia
* Strawberry Mansion
* West Philadelphia

Alternative
high schools|

* Bodine for International Affairs
* The U School (Building 21)
* Central
* Constitution
* Dobbins Vocational
* Franklin Learning Center
* High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA)
* High School for Girls
* Lankenau
* Jules E. Mastbaum Technical
* Microsoft's School of the Future
* Motivation
* Academy at Palumbo
* Parkway Center City
* Parkway West (Mayer Sulzberger)
* Philadelphia Military Academy
* Robeson for Human Services
* Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush
* W.B. Saul (Saul of Agricultural Sciences)
* Swenson Arts and Technology
* U School

K-8 schools|

* Alcorn
* Ethan Allen
* Bache-Martin
* Rudolph Blankenburg
* F. Amadee Bregy
* G.W. Childs (Barratt Junior High)
* Hamilton Disston
* James Dobson
* D. Newlin Fell
* Thomas K. Finletter Academics Plus
* Edwin Fitler Academics Plus
* Benjamin Franklin Academics Plus
* Charles W. Henry
* Francis Hopkinson
* Henry H. Houston
* Andrew Jackson
* John Story Jenks
* Eliza Butler Kirkbride
* Henry C. Lea
* George A. McCall
* Delaplaine McDaniel
* General George G. Meade
* William M. Meredith
* Thomas Mifflin
* S. Weir Mitchell
* Andrew J. Morrison
* George W. Nebinger
* Olney
* Roosevelt
* George Sharswood
* Southwark
* Spring Garden
* Edwin M. Stanton
* Vare-Washington

Middle schools|

* A.M.Y. at James Martin
* AMY Northwest
* Castor Gardens
* Conwell Middle Magnet
* Dimner Beeber (Science Leadership Academy at Beeber)
* Paul Lawrence Dunbar
* Warren G. Harding
* M.Y.A. for the Humanities
* William T. Tilden
* Gen. Louis Wagner

Elementary schools|

* Joseph H. Brown
* Laura H. Carnell
* Lewis C. Cassidy Academics Plus
* Joseph W. Catharine
* Kennedy Crossan Academics Plus
* Emlen
* Edwin Forrest
* Julia Ward Howe
* Francis Scott Key
* James Logan
* James R. Lowell
* Ludlow
* John Marshall
* Alexander K. McClure
* Overbrook
* John M. Patterson
* Joseph Pennell
* Samuel W. Pennypacker
* Richmond
* William Rowen
* Philip H. Sheridan
* James J. Sullivan
* Bayard Taylor
* Frances E. Willard

| Former high schools/
6-12 schools|

* Edward W. Bok Technical
* Charles Carroll
* Communications Technology (George Wolf)
* Stephen A. Douglas
* Thomas FitzSimons
* Germantown
* Robert E. Lamberton
* William Penn
* Thaddeus Stevens
* University City
* Roberts Vaux Promise Academy
* Young Women's Leadership School at Rhodes

|

Former K-8/middle/
elementary schools|

* Charles Y. Audenried
* William W. Axe
* George L. Brooks
* George W. Childs (former building)
* Watson Comly
* Mary Disston
* Francis M. Drexel
* Thomas Dunlap
* Joseph C. Ferguson
* Robert Fulton
* Germantown Grammar
* Elizabeth Duane Gillespie
* William B. Hanna
* Nathaniel Hawthorne
* Holmes
* George L. Horn (Sheridan West Academy)
* John L. Kinsey
* David Landreth
* Henry Longfellow
* Mechanicsville
* Thomas Meehan
* William S. Peirce
* Anna B. Pratt
* Thomas Powers
* Robert Ralston
* Samuel J. Randall
* Thomas Buchanan Read
* General John F. Reynolds
* Charles Schaeffer
* Walter G. Smith
* Spring Garden School No. 1
* M. Hall Stanton
* Abigail Vare
* Rudolph Walton
* George Washington
* Anthony Wayne
* John G. Whittier
* David Wilmot
* Alexander Wilson
* Mary Channing Wister
* Richardson L. Wright

Other schools

Roman Catholic Archdiocese|

* Archbishop Ryan
* Father Judge
* J. W. Hallahan
* Little Flower
* Mercy Career & Technical
* Nazareth Academy
* Roman Catholic
* St. Hubert
* St. Joseph's Preparatory
* St. Malachy
* Saints John Neumann and Maria Goretti
* West Catholic

Other private schools|

* Al-Aqsa Islamic
* Cedar Grove Christian
* Friends Select
* Germantown Friends
* Girard College
* Greene Street Friends
* Overbrook School for the Blind
* William Penn
* Pennsylvania School for the Deaf
* Philadelphia Free School
* Philadelphia Mennonite
* Politz Hebrew
* Springside Chestnut Hill
* St. Peter's

Former private schools|

* St. Anthony de Padua Parish

Public charter schools|

* Arts and Sciences
* Belmont
* Boys' Latin
* Simon Gratz
* Hope
* Imhotep Institute
* MaST Community
* Mastery Mann Elementary (William B. Mann)
* Mastery Shoemaker Campus (William Shoemaker)
* Mastery Thomas Campus (George C. Thomas)
* Mathematics, Civics and Sciences
* Memphis Street
* Smedley
* Universal Alcorn
* Universal Audenried
* Universal Creighton
* Universal Vare
* Hardy Williams (Anna Howard Shaw)

* v
* t
* e

Girls' schools in the Philadelphia area

Public girls' schools|

* Philadelphia High School for Girls

| Closed|

* The Young Women's Leadership School at Rhodes High School (Philadelphia)

|

Private girls' schools|

| Pennsylvania|

* Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy (girls' high school)
* The Baldwin School
* Saint Basil Academy
* Country Day School of the Sacred Heart
* Agnes Irwin School
* J. W. Hallahan Catholic Girls High School
* Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School
* Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls
* Merion Mercy Academy
* Mount Saint Joseph Academy
* Nazareth Academy High School
* Academy of Notre Dame de Namur
* Archbishop Prendergast High School
* St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls
* Villa Joseph Marie High School
* Villa Maria Academy

|

New Jersey|

* Our Lady of Mercy Academy (Franklin Township)

Delaware|

* Padua Academy
* Ursuline Academy (Coed elementary, girls' secondary)

Closed|

* Notre Dame Catholic Girls High School  (Philadelphia)

Merged|

* Saint Maria Goretti High School (Philadelphia)
* West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Girls

Became coed|

* Tatnall School

* v
* t
* e

Girls' schools in Pennsylvania

Public girls' schools|

* Philadelphia High School for Girls

| Closed|

* The Young Women's Leadership School at Rhodes High School (Philadelphia)

|

Private girls' schools|

| Philadelphia area|

* Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy (girls' high school)
* The Baldwin School
* Saint Basil Academy
* Country Day School of the Sacred Heart
* J. W. Hallahan Catholic Girls High School
* Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School
* Agnes Irwin School
* Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls
* Merion Mercy Academy
* Mount Saint Joseph Academy
* Nazareth Academy High School
* Academy of Notre Dame de Namur
* Archbishop Prendergast High School
* St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls
* Villa Joseph Marie High School
* Villa Maria Academy

|

Pittsburgh area|

* Oakland Catholic High School

Closed|

* Notre Dame Catholic Girls High School  (Philadelphia)

Merged|

* Saint Maria Goretti High School (Philadelphia)
* West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Girls

* v
* t
* e

Public high schools for girls in the United States

Arizona|

* Girls Leadership Academy of Arizona (Phoenix)

California|

* Girls Academic Leadership Academy (Los Angeles)

Florida|

* Young Women's Preparatory Academy (Miami)

Georgia|

* Coretta Scott King Young Women's Leadership Academy (Atlanta)

| Became coed|

* Girls High School (Atlanta)

|

Illinois|

* Young Women's Leadership Charter School of Chicago

Louisiana|

| Became coed|

* Eleanor McMain Secondary School (New Orleans)

|

Maryland|

* Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women
* Western High School (Baltimore)

| Closed|

* Eastern High School
* Eastern Female High School

|

Michigan|

* Detroit International Academy for Young Women (Detroit)

Missouri|

* Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls (St. Louis)

New Jersey|

* Girls' Academy of Newark

| Merged|

* Battin High School (Elizabeth)

|

New York|

* Young Women's Leadership School, Brooklyn
* Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women (New York City)
* Urban Assembly School of Business for Young Women (New York City)
* Young Women's Leadership School of East Harlem
* Young Women's Leadership School, Astoria (New York City)
* The Young Women's Leadership School of Queens

North Carolina|

* Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy

Pennsylvania|

* Philadelphia High School for Girls

| Closed|

* The Young Women's Leadership School at Rhodes High School (Philadelphia)

|

Texas|

* Rangel Young Women's Leadership School (Dallas)
* Richards School for Young Women Leaders (Austin)
* Talkington School for Young Women Leaders (Lubbock)
* Young Women's College Preparatory Academy (Houston)
* Young Women's Leadership Academy (Fort Worth)
* Young Women's Leadership Academy at Arnold (Grand Prairie)
* Young Women's Leadership Academy (San Antonio)

Portals:

* Philadelphia
* Pennsylvania
* Schools

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* United States

Geographic|

* NCES

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template