William Henderson Peck
(1859-1950)

Died aged c. 91

William Henderson Peck was born in 1859. In 1880 African-Americans in Nassau County petitioned for a high school which was constructed in 1884. The following year Moses H. Payne of Howard University became principal. Professor Peck became his assistant, and when Professor Payne died in a yellow fever epidemic in 1887 Peck took over as principal, a position he held for 50 years. By 1894 he had established a program serving students through the 10th grade and, in 1908, had a full high school curriculum. In 1911 the school, Nassau Colored School Number 1, was named Peck High School. In 1928 a new school was constructed with the same name, which served black children until desegregation in 1968. He died in 1950.

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