Horace Mann Junior High
BEARCATS

Horace Mann High School was named after a 19th Century lawyer, congressman, educator and president of Antioch College in Ohio. Through his efforts, the first Normal School in the United States was established in 1839 at Framingham, Massachusetts. Horace Mann is often called the father of the American free public school that we know today.

Horace Mann High School opened in 1955 with students enrolled in grades 10, 11, 12. In 1956, Horace Mann was noted as the only high school for blacks in Little Rock.

In 1971, LR Central was to become Little Rock's new middle school, but after strong protests by parents, students, teachers and others, it was decided that Horace Mann would become the middle school with students enrolled in grades 8 and 9. By 1978 Mann became a junior high and 7th grade was added. In the fall of 1983, Mann became a science magnet school. In the fall of 1987, Mann Arts and Science Magnet Junior High School became Little Rock's first junior high magnet school attended by students from the Little Rock, North Little Rock, and Pulaski County Special School Districts.

--- Information provided by the Little Rock School District