Classes started at Shades Cahaba High School on September 19, 1920 and the school has continuously served students in Homewood for the past 100 years. This project was started to record the memories of those that attended and worked at Shades Cahaba and those that just have a great story to tell.
The Book
To celebrate the centennial of Shades Cahaba, I produced 23 podcast episodes and various blog posts covering the history of the school, the community and Homewood creating it’s own school system, all of which are in this website. I used these stories and interviews to write the book Shades Cahaba: The First 100 Years which is on sale now. Hardback, paperback and Kindle versions are available at Amazon.com. A paperback version is available at Bookshop.org and an electronic version at Apple Books.
If you are a bookstore and would like to place this book in your store, it is now available to order through IngramSpark.
Episodes
Listen to the stories told by those who went to Shades Cahaba. Teachers, students, staff and parents. The school means something a little different to each person. Visit the Episodes Page for more content.
Show Host
My name is Shawn Wright and I attend Shades Cahaba Elementary from 1970 through 1974. My first year was in Mrs. Lemmon’s 2nd grade class. Both of my children have attend Shades Cahaba and my youngest “graduated” during Shades Cahaba’s 100th year. You can find out more about me at ShawnWright.net.
Blog Posts
Girls Baseball Champions 1923
In the athletics episode, I mentioned that the Shades Cahaba girls baseball team was the 1923 champions. Here is the writeup in the Owl Yearbook. Listen to the episode at https://dev.shadescahabahistory.com/podcast/shades-cahaba-athletics
Bands at Shades Cahaba
The last post featured the 1949 majorettes, but they are nothing without the band. Here are a few photos of the band in the 1940s. The featured image is of the 1949 band. The girls at the back are the majorettes featured in the last blog post. 1944 Band 1947 Band 1940...
Majorettes at Shades Cahaba
In some marching bands, the majorettes are the featured performers at halftime. In recent decades, the majorette has been replaced by dance teams such at the Star Spangles Girls at Homewood High School. The photo here is of the 1949 Shades Cahaba High School...
The Underpass
I shot this video around 2010 with my new iPhone 4. The video was terrific back then. I shared it on the Facebook page “I went to Shades Cahaba when the main entrance was on Hollywood Blvd.” There was a tremendous response from Shades Cahaba alumni. I thought you might like to see the Underpass.