[2] Prior to 1926, African American children in Starkville were able to get an education of sorts at what was known as Public School Number 2.

In 1926, the city began construction on a new school, which was opened in 1927 as the Oktibbeha County Training School (OCTS)[3] in a wooden frame building with the purpose of expanding educational opportunities for Starkville's black residents.

[5] Henderson had been a student at Public School Number 2 in 1918, and later returned as a teacher when it was a 10th grade institution.

[3] Henderson served as principal through the 1964 school year, after which he was replaced by Clell Ward.

Many civil rights workers believed that the naming of schools after black principals was done to help perpetuate segregation.

In 1970, the building which had been the original Rosenwald School, adjacent to Henderson, was burned to the ground.