As prom season approaches for high school students nationwide, one school in particular is celebrating a special event: its first integrated prom.
Wilcox County High School will arrange the integrated prom for the entire 400-student body. In Wilcox County, Georgia community with about 11,500 residents, black and white students have always attended separate school dances.
Although segregation has been illegal for decades, the dances remained segregated because they were not funded publicly by the school district, but privately by parents and students of the community.
“I think that’s ridiculous that this is their first one when we’re in America, where everything should be equal. That’s insane,” San Diego State business administration senior Kelly Almack said.
Wilcox County Superintendent Steve Smith said the school supports the women who are taking the initiative to organize an integrated prom.
“I consider it an embarrassment to our schools and community that these events have portrayed us as bigoted in any way,” Smith said.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People President Edward DuBose explained although school officials say they do not endorse segregated proms, their silence contradicts such statements.
The NAACP urged the school district to change its policy of non-sponsorship, saying the practice enabled segregated dances to endure.
“The school has been perpetuating Jim Crow laws,” Africana Studies professor Charles Toombs said.
“We do not need Jim Crow laws anymore. It’s a shame in 2013 we still have instances like this.”
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the U.S. during 1876 to 1965. The laws created the status for African Americans to be “separate but equal” and in turn, the separation created inferior conditions for African Americans.
Quanesha Wallace, one of the students organizing the prom, said she feels strongly against the segregation of her peers at dances. Students at Wilcox County are integrated in all other areas of school, including sports and classrooms.
Wallace said not all students are thrilled about the prospect of an integrated prom and have been removing posters for the event around the high school.
So far, about 50 tickets have been sold for the event, but the committee hopes to sell at least 100. The integrated dance is planned for April 27.
Wilcox County High School administrators are discussing a school-sponsored prom for 2014.
