Built in 1928, W.G.Pearson Middle School was named after W. G. Pearson, a Hayti businessman and educator and former principal at Hillside High School.The 1982 Durham Architectural and Historic Inventory describes Pearson as having "one of the most sophisticated exterior designs for a school building in Durham," with a carved stone surround at its entrance and a copper cornice along the roofline. In 2007, after the school relocate to a new building farther south of its Merrick Street location, the original establishment underwent major renovations and was then reopened as W. G. Pearson Magnet Middle School.

W.G. Pearson was a Hayti businessman and educator, at one time principal of Hillside High School. He made a practice of recruiting college graduates to teach in Durham's African American schools at a time when teachers in the segregated schools were only required to have completed the ninth grade. Pearson was president of the Fraternal Bank and Trust Co. and organizer of the Royal Knights of King David fraternal lodge.