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
Athletic Letters from the 1950s
Bill Cather found these varsity letters when he was digging around looking for his Shades Cahaba scrapbooks to share with me. It's the varsity letters that were awarded to players at Shades Cahaba during the 1950s. Bill tells me that similar to what Jeff Underwood...
5th Grade, 1963-1964
This photo is in the display case in the front office of Shades Cahaba. I borrowed it to share it with you. It's the class picture of Mrs. Florence Allen's 5th Grade class. This is the school year 1963-1964.
The Owl Yearbooks 1940-1949
Yearbooks are important in the year of a student and more important when you are trying to restart memories later in life. For me, they have been invaluable when reconstructing timelines and confirming (or correcting) stories. Here are the covers of the yearbooks from...
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.