1910 Construction of school is completed

1911 January 3, the school opens with 375 African American students

1919 A legislative act allows the faculty and principal to be replaced with African Americans

1921 Board member James E. Burke dies and school is renamed Burke Industrial School in his honor

1923 First 11th grade class graduates

1930s Athletics begin

1938 Football team wins its 1st lower and state championship

1940s A band and 250 voice choir were begun

1946 The faculty receive pay equal to that of their white counterparts

WWII veterans enroll at Burke

1948 First 12th grade class graduates

1949 School receives "A" rating by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools; enrollment 1,827

1951 Modie Risher coaches first baseball team

1953 50 Korean War veterans enroll at Burke

1954 Burke enrollment nears 2000

1960s Approximately 24 students arrested in lunch counter desegregation/ civil rights protests

1963 Former student Harvey Gannt 1st African American to integrate Clemson University, Delano Meriwether 1st African American to enter Duke Medical University

1966 School granted charter to establish chapter of Modern Music Masters

1969 Adult trade classes begin

1970 School offers vocational, general, and college preparation tracts

1971 Bernard Deas 1st African American to graduate from the Medical University School of Medicine

1972 Students walk out in protest over poor physical condition of school

1976 Basketball team wins boys 4A state championship and John Wilford names SC High School Coach of the Year

1979 Gymnastics team created

1984 Basketball team wins boys 4A state championship; 1700 students; cafeteria that seats 250

1988 Charleston County Magnet School placed at Burke

1993 1st school in SC to have campus-based health clinic

1994 Vocational studies program shut down despite protest

1996 Academic Magnet High School leaves Burke

2000 Curriculum reorganized and generalized

2002 Construction begins on new facility

2005 New gym named in honor of Modie Risher; new Burke school (designed by former student, Harvey Gannt) dedicated

2006 Charles Benton becomes principal

2010 Burke's centennial anniversary; enrollment 614

* Taken from 2010 Burke High School Yearbook