2008 is the first time Mississippi school integrates prom

I remember writing a super controversial article for my high school newspaper, back in the day, after learning that we had a “regular” court and a separate minority court for homecoming.  Apparently, it was the school’s answer to trying to get some minority recognition during homecoming.  No, I didn’t attend a high school that had bussing or anything like that.  Rather, I grew up in a suburban utopia of sorts.

At the time, I was president of our black student union as well, and let me tell you the uproar that ensued after that article was published (a journalist’s dream of course).  To my surprise, the most peeved people were the advisors for the Black Student Union because they fought to have this “arrangement” in the first place.  My goodness, I fell drastically out of their favor after that…something that always surprises me about black folk.

Anyhoo, this story goes on and on, but after negotiations with the SGA, school principal, and the Black Student Union, they agreed (they and NOT me) to keep the court only if there wasn’t minority representation on the “regular” homecoming court.  Some fancy flavor of affirmative action, I guess.

…Well, just when I thought that was as bad as it got way back in the late 80s early 90s, I read this article about Charleston High School in Mississippi holding its very first integrated prom.  For realz??  In 2008??

Check out these excerpts from NPR’s Bryant Park Project blog~

Mississippi integrated its public schools in 1970, but segregation still haunts parts of the culture. One example of this could be found at Charleston High School. The Delta town had maintained a system of separate proms — organized privately — for black and white students…

A photographer…says people in Charleston didn’t question the segregated dances…

Read the full article here- Mississippi School Holds First Interracial Prom

They also cite The Jackson Free Press article for inspiring this story- [Kamikaze] Prom Night

Also, stay tuned for a documentary on the occasion produced by a film crew out of Canada called “Prom Night in Mississippi”