The school named for Israel Meyer Augustine Jr., the first African-American judge in Louisiana, near Tulane Avenue and Broad Street was boarded up after Hurricane Katrina. The marquee outside says "School starts Aug. 18, 2005.'
Hey Blake,
I am a graduate of S.J. Peters High School, which was renamed Israel Augustine Middle School. When was the name changed? Also, I cannot find anything on the Internet that gives the history of S.J. Peters High School or the person the school was named to honor. I also would like to get in touch with members of the ""Shoulder to Shoulder" Club. They were having a regular reunion in October, but I have lost touch.
Dr. Don Landry
Class of 1946
Dear Dr. Don,
The school you remember at 425 S. Broad St. was dedicated on Nov. 24, 1897. It was named in honor of Samuel Jarvis Peters, an important man in New Orleans; it was renamed about 100 years later to honor another important man in our city.
Peters was born in York, Canada, in 1801. Twenty years later he moved to New Orleans and got a job as a grocery clerk. Two years after that, he had his own grocery business " the Peters and Millard Grocery Company. His company was well established within five years, and he began to take advantage of the growth of the city.
He soon became one of the most influential men in town. At various times he was an official of the Pontchartrain Railroad, president of the City Bank of New Orleans, director of the Commercial Bank of New Orleans and president of the Chamber of Commerce.
During the 1840s Peters, as president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Second Municipality, played a key role in fostering legislation to build wharves, pave streets and install a waterworks. He also sponsored an ordinance to found a subscription library. He also was given much credit for the founding of the public school system in New Orleans and often is called the father of the New Orleans Public School System. In 1924, the city's first Boys' High School of Commerce was named for S.J. Peters.
He died on Aug. 11, 1855, and was buried in Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 in the Garden District.
The gentleman for whom the school now is named was of no less significance. Born in New Orleans on Nov. 16, 1924, Israel Meyer Augustine Jr. grew up to become the first African-American judge in Louisiana. After graduating from McDonogh 35 High School, he attended Southern University in Baton Rouge and obtained his law degree from Lincoln University in St. Louis, Mo. In 1951, Augustine was admitted to the Louisiana bar.
In 1969, Gov. John McKeithen appointed him judge, making Augustine the first African-American judge at Criminal District Court. Two years later, he became the first African American elected as a judge for a 12-year term in Criminal District Court. A civil rights activist, Augustine was an attorney for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and helped to organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957.
Augustine was elected to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal in 1981, but served only three years before stepping down to run an unsuccessful race for Congress against Rep. Lindy Boggs.
As a champion for the people, the judge established community programs such as 'Roots" Homecoming Program and the First Offender and Angola Awareness program. In an effort to help young people turn their lives around, he established a rehabilitation program that included weekend lectures and a trip to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.
It was a great loss to the city when Augustine died of Lou Gehrig's disease on Aug. 29, 1994. He was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery.
In addition to having a school named after him, the Orleans Criminal District Court at Tulane Avenue and S. Broad Street " near the middle school " was renamed the Israel M. Augustine Criminal Justice Center in 1996.
