Blanche Armwood's story is one worth sharing | Tampa Bay Times

" My older son is a senior at Armwood High School, and my younger son is a junior at the school, but ask them what they know about the school's namesake and their knowledge doesn't go much beyond "she was an African American educator." Of course, it's difficult for me to criticize when a group of older and supposedly wiser friends recently exclaimed, "Armwood is named after a black woman?" Yes, it is. And not only was Blanche Armwood a black woman, but she fought for her fellow African-Americans with the same fervor often displayed by the high school's football team. Unlike the Hawks, however, Blanche Armwood didn't get to play on a level playing field in the early 20th century. In the Jim Crow South, blacks were relegated to second-class status, endured lynchings and struggled to find equality."