In 1988, the Boston School Committee renamed Copley Square High School to honor long-time African American community activist Muriel S. Snowden (1916-88). With her husband, Otto, Muriel Snowden founded Freedom House, Inc., in Roxbury as a nonprofit community-based organization dedicated to human rights and advocacy for African Americans in Boston. Her leadership moved Freedom House into areas of urban renewal, minority employment, and educational equality for children as well as being a positive force for interracial cooperation in Boston. The high school encourages the study of international cultures and foreign languages, fields Snowden also fostered.The building once housed the Boston Art Club, founded in 1855. Although women could not be members until the 1930s, they did exhibit there. Among the new members was Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, whose sculpture Emancipation stands in Harriet Tubman Square.
