Georgia highschool students fight for first desegregated prom

[Sasha]

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Believe or not, Wilcox County High School in Rochelle, Georgia still has segregated dances for white and black students. When a bi-racial student attempted to walk into the white prom last year, police turned them away at the entrance. To combat this racial divide, several students have taken on the task of organizing their first racially integrated prom through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/IntegratedProm2013), which has been reportedly met with some adversity at their high school, according to the local news affiliate WSAV-3 (http://www.wsav.com/story/21866654/macon-students-fight-segregated-prom). C'mon, Georgia, it's time to upgrade!

:cursing:

[Deity]

Is that not in some way illegal?

[Taters]

It may not be, as long it's a privately funded event or something. I don't know, but I'm too lazy to look up all those laws.

Ah, Georgia, that shining beacon of progress...

[Don't Swallow The Cap]

The prom is privately funded by students and parents, so the school has no say.
This area is quite close to where I went to school, which I thought was backwards as it gets. The seemingly endless amount of absurdities in Georgia never ceases to amaze me.
Good to see them fight about though, even if it took over half a decade. :sleep:

[Red Commissar]

There is a documentary, "Prom Night in Mississippi" about another school in the deep south which was still running segregated proms.

http://www.thenation.com/article/charlestons-first-integrated-prom


Canadian filmmaker Paul Saltzman is working on a documentary that's sure to be hopeful, fascinating, and at least a little bit heartbreaking. Prom Night in Mississippi tells the story of Charleston High School's first integrated prom. For the first time ever, black and white students attended their prom together.

Legally, segregation ended in Mississippi over 50 years ago. Public schools were integrated about 40 years ago. But if the story of the Jena Six in Jena, Louisiana taught us anything, it's that racial separation and racial tensions are alive and well in some parts of our country.

Actor Morgan Freeman is originally from Charleston, Mississippi. Since 1997, Freeman has tried to get the high school to integrate its prom. Each year, he's offered to pay for the dance if the school allows all students to attend. This year, school officials finally took him up on the offer.

NPR's Bryant Park Project has a great story today inspired by the upcoming documentary. Photographer Catherine Farquharson worked with the film crew on Prom Night in Mississippi. Her amazing photographs depict a group of excited students getting ready for the prom--and having a great time once they got there. Check out the audio slideshow featuring Farquharson's genius as well as an interview with one of the students from the high school.

Charleston High School's 2008 interracial prom went off without a hitch. As you can see from the pictures, the students really enjoyed themselves. But, sadly, some white parents didn't let their kids attend, and some insisted on holding a private prom of their own. Listen to the whole story here. Q_zAEGAZoFQ

I'm surprised there was another one like that school.

[Blake's Baby]

What the fuck? I mean, this isn't some April 1st joke? This is actually seriously going on?

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

That's fucking crazy. I'm not sure I really believe this...

[MP5]

What in the name of fuck? They still have segregated proms even in places like Georgia? Holy shit that is fucking disgusting :cursing:

[Comrade Nasser]

So sad. I couldn't imagine being with someone of a different race and having to go to different proms (this hits home for me).


But then again it's Georgia so i'm not surprised...

[MP5]

So sad. I couldn't imagine being with someone of a different race and having to go to different proms (this hits home for me).


But then again it's Georgia so i'm not surprised...

As a guy who's only had maybe 1 actual g/f who was white (and she wasn't a serious one) i can't imagine that either. Ive had a Arab g/f and a Jewish g/f (i like to promote peace when i can ;) ) and it was never a issue so i can't imagine what it would be like to be told that i couldn't come to the same prom as people who had nice white Anglo-Saxon g/f's.

I shouldn't be surprised as it is Georgia. Hell i know a woman from Alabama who's father basically disowned her because she dated a black guy ffs :sleep:

[Os Cangaceiros]

This kind of explicit segregation is pretty rare, but unofficial segregation in the residential and educational sectors is still pretty common. Not just in the south, either...you can see diagrams of places like New York City and see the same kind of dynamics there, in terms of neighborhoods and people who live in them. Kind of a separate issue from this story, but still segregation I guess.

This is an interesting map I found of Chicago. White = purple dots, black - blue dots, latino = orange dots, Asians= green dots (one dot equals 25 people)

http://filipspagnoli.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/chicago-segregation-map.jpg