Lanier High School is located at
833 W. Maple Street, Jackson, Mississippi. It is one of eight high schools in the Jackson Public School District, which is the largest school district in Mississippi.

In 2000, Lanier adopted the Southern Regional Education Board’s High Schools That Work model. As part of this model, our 9th Grade Orientation has become an annual event and continues to expand each year and Reading Renaissance has been incorporated into the curriculum.

Lanier High School takes its name from that of the late, distinguished W.H. Lanier, a former President of Alcorn College and the first Supervisor of Jackson Colored Public Schools. Lanier was born a slave in Huntsville, Alabama in 1851. He attended Tougaloo College, Oberlin College and Fisk University and received his B.A. degree from Roger Williams University. He served as president of Alcorn A&M for six years. Lanier taught school in Forest, Winona, Black Hawk, Carrollton, Yazoo City and Jackson. He was principal of the Robertson School from 1912-1929.

Lanier was first organized as a junior-senior high school in 1925 providing instruction for pupils from the seventh through the twelfth grades. A new chapter was added to our history when, on February 8, 1954, we transferred from the old Lanier at 136 East Ash Street and occupied the new Lanier Junior-Senior High School building at 833 West Maple Street. On January 27, 1972, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered that Lanier School be designated as a center for the enrollment of 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students. In 1991, 9th grade students were added to the enrollment.