HISTORY

The big school in the South Ward was built in 1912. It was originally constructed as South Side High School and Newark Junior College. The school has with stood several amazing changes over the years. Here is a brief description of how the high school changed to accommodate the community and honor the historical history of one of the great African-American figure heads, Malcom X Shabazz.

SOUTH SIDE HIGH SCHOOL

The school was founded as South Side (SS) High School in 1914 in Newark, New Jersey of Essex County as part of Newark Public Schools. In 1969, South Side became a host to another high school know as School Within A School (SWAS) which co-housed the building at 80 Johnson Avenue, Newark, NJ. South Side was renamed in honor of Malcolm X Shabazz in 1972.

MALCOM X SHABAZZ HIGH SCHOOL

In 1972 the school was named Malcom X Shabazz (MXS) High School. A ground-breaking ceremony was held in 1973 for a new addition to be built onto the school (formerly South Side). School Within A School had left the building in 1977 and Malcom X Shabazz received a State-of-the-art athletic stadium. This record-breaking event excited the students and made them stand proud. The Malcolm X Shabazz Athletic Field opened on October 6, 2001.

SCHOOL WITHIN A SCHOOL

School Within A School (SWAS) was a program that started inside the wall of South Side in 1969. The curriculum focused on humanities and sciences. It was known for providing college reparatory classes to Newark students. In 1977, SWAS relocated to High Street in Newark. The name was changed to University High School of Humanities (aka University High School) and became a six-year high school starting with grades seventh through twelfth. Our next move is where we are currently housed as of 1982, which is the old Clinton Place Jr. High school building.