{{More citations needed|date=May 2025}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{use mdy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox school | name = Philadelphia High School for Girls | former_names = {{Ubl | Girls' Normal School (1848–1854) | Girls' High School of Philadelphia (1854–1860) | Girls' High and Normal School (1860–1893) }} | image = Philly HS for Girls.jpg | motto = {{lang|la|Vincit qui se vincit}} | motto_translation = He conquers who conquers himself | type = [[State school|Public]] [[college-preparatory school|college preparatory]] [[magnet school]] | gender = | district = [[School District of Philadelphia]] | grades = [[9th grade|9]]–[[12th grade|12]] | established = {{start date and age|1848}} | address = 1400 West Olney Avenue | city = [[Philadelphia]] | state = [[Pennsylvania]] | zipcode = 19141 | country = United States | coordinates = {{coord|40.038342|-75.146066|region:US-PA_type:edu|display=inline,title|format=dms}} | enrollment = 894 (2022–23)<ref name=NCES>{{cite web|url=https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=4218990&SchoolPageNum=5&ID=421899003843|title=Girls HS|publisher=National Center for Education Statistics|access-date=July 20, 2024}}</ref> | staff = 46.00 (FTE)<ref name=NCES/> | ratio = 19.43<ref name=NCES/> | mascot = Gazelle | colors = {{color box|white}} {{color box|yellow}} White and yellow | principal = KaTiedra Argro | website = {{URL|https://girlshs.philasd.org}} }}
The '''Philadelphia High School for Girls''', also known as '''Girls' High''', is a public [[college-preparatory school|college preparatory]] [[Magnet school|magnet]] [[Single-sex education|high school for girls]] in [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]].
Established in 1848, it was one of the first public schools for women. It is a magnet school in the [[School District of Philadelphia]] with a competitive admissions process. ''Vincit qui se vincit'' (she conquers who conquers herself) is the school's motto. The school is located at [[Broad Street (Philadelphia)|Broad Street]] and Olney Avenue in the [[Logan, Philadelphia|Logan]] section of Philadelphia.
==History== [[File:Girls Normal School Sergeant Street above Ninth Philadelphia PA (1853).jpg|thumb|Girls Normal School, Sergeant St. above 9th, 1853]] [[File:Girls High School Cor Seventeenth and Spring Garden Streets Philadelphia PA (1876).jpg|thumb|Girls High School, 17th and Spring Garden Sts., 1876]] [[File:New Girls Normal School NW Cor Thirteenth and Spring Garden Streets Philadelphia PA (1893).jpg|thumb|New Girls Normal School, 13th and Spring Garden Sts., 1893]] [[File:Masterman School Philly.JPG|thumb|The previous Girls' High campus, now [[Julia R. Masterman School]], which housed the school from 1933 to 1958]] In 1848, the Girls' [[Normal School]] was established as the first secondary public school for women in [[Pennsylvania]]. It was also the first municipally supported teachers' school in the U.S. The first instructional session was held on February 1, 1848. By June 1848, there were 149 enrolled students, an incredibly large enrollment for a school at that time. The school continued to grow, forcing a move in 1854 to Sergeant Street between 9th and 10th Streets.
In April 1854, the name of the school was changed to the Girls' High School of Philadelphia. By June 1860, 65 graduates had received diplomas bearing the Girls' High School name. In 1860, the name of the school was again changed to The Girls' High and Normal School to better define the "design of the institution" as a school for an education confined to academic subjects and for future teachers.
In October 1876, a new school which "for convenience and comfort will probably have no superior" was constructed at Seventeenth and Spring Garden Streets. At the time, it was surpassed in size only by [[Girard College]] and the [[University of Pennsylvania]].
In 1893, the High School and Normal School were separated into two distinct institutions. It was at this time that the institution became known as the Philadelphia High School for Girls. The school offered three parallel courses: a general course of three years with a possible postgraduate year, a classical course of four years, and a business course of three years. In 1898, a Latin-Scientific course "was designed to prepare students for the [[Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia|Women's Medical College]], [[Cornell University]], [[Vassar College|Vassar]], [[Wellesley College|Wellesley]], [[Smith College|Smith]], [[Barnard College|Barnard]], or such courses in the University of Pennsylvania as were open to women."
In the early 1930s, the school survived attempts to merge it with [[William Penn High School (Philadelphia)|William Penn High School]]. Alumnae, faculty and friends of the school dedicated themselves to its preservation.
In 1933, a new school was erected at Seventeenth and Spring Garden Streets to replace the one which had stood on the site since 1876. This historic building, now the site of [[Julia R. Masterman School]], was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1976.
In May 1976, Vice Principal Dr. Florence Snite sued Katherine Day for libel because she had organized a demonstration protesting the administration's policy which barred lesbian alumnae from attending the prom.<ref>HQ75. P55x. Philadelphia Gay News. January 3, 1976 – March 25, 1978. Vol. 1. No. 1 – Vol. 2. No. 6. Special Collections Research Center in Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.</ref>
In 1958, the school again outgrew its location and moved to its current site at Broad Street and Olney Avenue. Located down the street at Ogontz and Olney Avenue is [[Central High School (Philadelphia)|Central High School]], which, until 1983, was an all-male school. Prior to Central turning co-educational, the two schools had a partnership.
==School song== The school song has two parts. "Alma Mater" was written by Grade Gordon (1906), with music by F. Edna Davis (1906). "Fidelitas" was written by Emily Loman in June 1915.<ref>"[http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/schools/g/girlshigh/about-us/school-songs4 School Songs]." ''Philadelphia High School for Girls''.</ref>
==School seals== <gallery mode="packed"> File:Philadelphia High School For Girls Tree of Knowledge Old Seal and Logo.png|Tree of Knowledge, Original School Seal File:Philadelphia High School For Girls Nike of Samothrace or Winged Victory Seal and Logo.png|Nike of Samothrace or Winged Victory, School Seal File:Philadelphia High School For Girls Tree of Knowledge Seal and Logo.png|Tree of Knowledge, School Seal </gallery>
==Notable alumnae== {{alumni|date=December 2020}} * [[Erika Alexander]] - actress and producer * [[Gloria Allred]] - attorney * [[Sarah A. Anderson]] - politician * [[Leslie Esdaile Banks]] - novelist * [[Deborah Batts]] - judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York * [[Becky Birtha]] - poet and author * [[Susan Braudy]] - author, journalist and Pulitzer nominee * [[Blondell Reynolds Brown]] - politician; only woman to serve as Philadelphia city councilmember at-large, 1999–2015 * [[Elaine Brown]] - first woman head of the Black Panther Party * [[Vanessa Lowery Brown]] - Democratic member of the [[Pennsylvania House of Representatives]] who was convicted of bribery<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/house_bio.cfm?districtnumber=190|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170621112843/https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/house_bio.cfm?districtnumber=190|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 June 2017|title=Representative Vanessa Lowery Brown - PA House of Representatives|date=21 June 2017}}</ref> * [[Bebe Moore Campbell]] - author * [[Mary Schmidt Campbell]] - president of [[Spelman College]] * [[Barbara Chase-Riboud]] - artist, sculptor, bestselling novelist and award-winning poet * [[Constance Clayton]] - first woman and first African American superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia * [[Mae Virginia Cowdery]] - poet * [[Maria Donatucci]] - PA state representative of the 185th District; current PA chairwoman of Civil Service Committee (1972) * [[Reed Erickson]] - philanthropist; transgender man who provided early support to the LGBT movement * [[Jessie Redmon Fauset]] - Harlem Renaissance novelist; editor of ''The Crisis'' * [[Eileen Folson]] - Grammy-nominated musician, Broadway composer (1974) * [[Shirley Clarke Franklin]] - first woman mayor of Atlanta, Georgia * [[Vanessa Northington Gamble]] - physician; authority on public health; chaired the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Legacy Committee * [[Arrah Lee Gaul]] - painter * [[Julie Gold]] - Grammy-winning songwriter, singer (1974) * [[Tina Sloan Green]] - athlete * [[Edith Grossman]] - translator of modern Latin American literature * [[Helene Hanff]] - author, wrote ''84 Charing Cross Road'' * [[Barbara Harris (bishop)|Barbara Harris]] - first woman ordained a bishop of the Episcopal Church * [[Carolyn Haywood]] - children's writer, illustrator and painter * [[Lillian Hoban]] - illustrator and children's writer; published in over 1,400 publications; Lewis Carroll Shelf and Christopher Award winner * [[Minnie Kenny]] - cryptologist; early NSA employee; former chief of Language and Linguistics for the Office of Techniques and Standards of the NSA<ref>{{cite web |title=Cryptologic Almanac 50th Anniversary Series - Minnie Kenney - A Champion with a Red Rose |url=https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/70/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/crypto-almanac-50th/Minnie_Kenney.pdf |website=NSA |access-date=20 October 2020}}</ref> * [[Virginia Knauer]] - economic advisor to President Nixon and President Ford; first director of the Office of Consumer Affairs * [[Milly Koss]] - computing pioneer * [[Pinkie Gordon Lane]] - first African American poet laureate of Louisiana * [[Carol Lazzaro-Weis]] - professor of Italian and French, translator and scholar * [[Lisa Lopes]] - member of the best-selling female American group of all time, [[TLC (group)|TLC]] * [[Frederica Massiah-Jackson]] - president of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas * [[Jeanette DuBois Meech]] - evangelist and industrial educator * [[Pauline Oberdorfer Minor]] - one of the founders of [[Delta Sigma Theta]] sorority * [[Wanda Nesbitt]] - U.S. ambassador to Namibia (1974) * [[Barbara Nissman]] - concert pianist in the grand Romantic tradition * [[Ann Hobson Pilot]] - principal harpist, Boston Symphony Orchestra * [[Howardena Pindell]] - artist, first African American curator at MoMA, activist for minorities in the arts, researcher, and author * [[Rebecca S. Pringle]] - president, [[National Education Association]]<ref>{{Cite web|last=Writer|first=Wilford Shamlin III Tribune Staff|title=Education official stresses the logic of diversity|url=https://www.phillytrib.com/news/education-official-stresses-the-logic-of-diversity/article_22438094-2468-51ec-bd9b-2a3202c21643.html|access-date=2021-06-03|website=The Philadelphia Tribune|language=en}}</ref> * [[Liza Redfield]] - conductor, pianist, and composer; first woman to be the full-time conductor of a Broadway pit orchestra * [[Katherine Gilmore Richardson]] - politician; Philadelphia city councilmember at-large * [[Lisa Richette]] - Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas judge, legal pioneer, social activist, and author * [[Judith Rodin]] - first woman president of the University of Pennsylvania; president of the Rockefeller Foundation * [[Jill Scott (singer)|Jill Scott]] - singer and actress * [[Dolores Sloviter]] - first woman named chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit * [[Marion Stokes]] - civil rights activist, founding board member of the [[National Organization for Women]], and philanthropist; data and media archivist who recorded every news broadcast for decades; her 70,000 tapes are being digitized by the [[Internet Archive]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurencoleman/2019/05/08/how-the-data-this-woman-stored-could-change-your-life/|title=How The Data This Woman Stored Could Change Your Life|first=Lauren deLisa|last=Coleman|website=Forbes}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/obituaries/20121221_Marion_Stokes__coproducer_of_TV_show.html|title=Marion Stokes, coproducer of TV show|first=By Vernon Clark, Inquirer Staff|last=Writer|website=www.inquirer.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/recorder-the-marion-stokes-project/|title=RECORDER: THE MARION STOKES PROJECT | Activist Seeking Truth on TV 24/7|website=[[PBS]] }}</ref> * [[Zoe Strauss]] - photographer; nominee member of Magnum Photos * [[C. Delores Tucker]] - politician and civil rights activist * [[Mary L. Washington]] - politician<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://www.electmarywashington.com/marys-story/marys-bio/|title=Elect Mary Washington: About Mary|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923233424/http://www.electmarywashington.com/marys-story/marys-bio/|archive-date=2010-09-23}}</ref> * [[Helen L. Weiss]] - composer and pianist * [[Lisa Yuskavage]] - artist
==Controversy==
Student Hafsah Abdur-Rahman was denied a diploma on stage by the school principal after performing the [[Griddy]] dance during the graduation ceremony on June 9, 2023.<ref>{{cite web |title=Girls' High grad speaks out after being denied diploma on stage after dancing during ceremony |url=https://6abc.com/philadelphia-high-school-for-girls-denied-diploma-dancing-on-stage-philly-grad/13387177/ |website=6abc.com |access-date=15 July 2023}}</ref>
==Notable faculty== * [[Ida Augusta Keller]] - [[Plant physiology|plant physiologist]]; taught at the school 1893–1930<ref name=creese-keller>{{cite book|last1=Creese|first1=Mary R. S.|title=Ladies in the Laboratory? American and British Women in Science, 1800-1900: A Survey of Their Contributions to Research|date=1998|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Lanham, MD|isbn=0-8108-3287-9}}</ref><ref name=stone-keller>{{cite journal|last1=Stone|first1=Witmer|title=Ida Augusta Keller (1866-1932)|journal=Bartonia|date=2 December 1932|issue=14|pages=59–60|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36394865|access-date=30 October 2014}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * [https://archive.org/details/publicschoolsph00custgoog/ The Public Schools of Philadelphia: Historical, Biographical, Statistical by John Trevor Custis, Burk & McFetridge Co. Publisher, 1897, Pg. 153&c.: ''Girls' Normal School, Girl's High School, Girls' High and Normal School'']
==External links== {{commons category|Philadelphia High School for Girls}} * {{Official website|https://girlshs.philasd.org/}} ** {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180128194133/http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/schools/g/girlshigh/|date=January 28, 2018|title=Girls' High School}}; **{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102090206/http://www.phila.k12.pa.us/schools/girlshigh/|date=November 2, 2007|title=Girls' High School}} * [http://www.ghsalumnae.com/ Alumnae Association]
{{Schools in Philadelphia}} {{Girls' schools in Philadelphia}} {{Girls' schools in Pennsylvania}} {{Public high schools for girls in the U.S.}} {{Portalbar|Philadelphia|Pennsylvania|Schools}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Philadelphia High School For Girls}} [[Category:1848 establishments in Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Educational institutions established in 1848]] [[Category:Girls' schools in Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Logan, Philadelphia]] [[Category:Magnet schools in Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Public girls' schools in the United States]] [[Category:Public high schools in Philadelphia]] [[Category:Women in Philadelphia]]