https://ghsfha.org/wiki/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Jack_ForresterJack Forrester - Revision history2026-06-05T22:06:50ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.37.1https://ghsfha.org/wiki/index.php?title=Jack_Forrester&diff=61418&oldid=prevLoren Maxwell: Text replacement - "{{xdat|school-dbx}}
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'''Jack Forrester''' was a former black school located in [[Alto]], a segregated portion of the prison-based [[Georgia Industrial Institute]].<br />
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==History==<br />
A portion of Georgia's black juvenile inmate population was located at Battey State in [[Rome]]. In 1951, it and other young black inmates in Georgia were moved to the former Camp Toccoa in Stephens County.<ref>Toccoa Record, October 11, 1951</ref> The prison population seems to have been moved to Gracewood in Richmond County before 1953.<ref name="Gracewood">Northeast Georgian, April 2, 1953</ref><br />
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In 1953, the former tuberculosis sanitarium in Alto was converted into a prison for youths.<ref>The March 26, 1953 Northeast Georgian only mentioned black youth were moving, with the white youth remaining at Gracewood.</ref> The move was made by Governor Herman Talmadge to free up space at Gracewood for the education of mentally handicapped children.<ref name="Gracewood"/> Habersham County residents protested the move, with Representative T. Sidney Blackburn calling it "a social problem that we can't accurately predict at this time.".<ref name="Gracewood"/> It was reported that Talmadge received a suggestion from Habersham to move (return) the prison to Camp Toccoa.<ref name="Gracewood"/> Despite the protests, the prison stayed.<br />
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==Football==<br />
Forrester's teams played regular [[Georgia Interscholastic Association]] opponents and traveled as far as South Carolina for games.<ref>"35 Young Inmates Refuse to Escape," Florence (S.C.) Morning News, October 10, 1961</ref><br />
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In the mid-1960s, the team was a state power in Class A. The [[1964 Forrester]] squad won the [[GIA Class A]] state championship, defeating [[Hutto]], 26-7 in the [[final]]. The final was played at South Habersham High.<ref>Northeast Georgian, December 1964</ref> Forrester's final football team was in [[1966]], though it was listed as a member of the GIA's District VI, Class A for 1968-70. Georgia Industrial Institute would finish its days in Alto as an integrated juvenile prison.<br />
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The name history of the prison schools is unclear. It at one time went by Georgia Juvenile Training Institute and the date of the switch to Jack Forrester is unknown, or if it was ever official. The name comes from Jack M. Forrester, Georgia's state prison director in the 1950s-60s. <br />
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Among the inmates of the prison at Battey State and Camp Toccoa was [http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2006-12-25-brown-timeline_x.htm soul singer James Brown].<br />
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==References==<br />
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[[Category:Schools]]</div>Loren Maxwell