Georgia school has 1st integrated prom, no word on “coloreds only” cafeteria
Posted
April 23, 2007 at
12:50 pm by
Prescott
In a shocking leap into the 20th century, Turner County High School in Ashburn, Georgia just held its first integrated prom. Previously, despite the school itself being integrated, white students raised funds to hold their own private party prompting black students to do the same. This was the first year that senior class officers moved to hold one official prom and invite all students. The decision comes on the heel of the school abandoning the crowning of separate black and white homecoming queens last fall.
No, this isn’t some “this day in 1950s history” post, this just happened over the past weekend. I know in my neck of the woods, Chicago certainly still deals with the issues of race and segregation, but my god I must live in a bubble because I am shocked that this kind of blatant racism still exists in this day and age. Of course I realize there are plenty of individual racist pricks out there, I’m not completely naive, but to think an entire county would condone this is almost incomprehensible to me. The county’s school superintendent was quoted by the AP as saying, “I couldn’t be more proud of these young people. The changes needed to come from the student body.” Because it seems it sure won’t be driven by their parents or the school administration.
While this is certainly forward progress for this backwater town, it apparently is just a baby step. Only two-thirds of the upper class attended the prom, the majority being the black students. A number of white students still threw their own private party a week earlier.
Tags: ashburn, education, georgia, prom, racism, segregation
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6 Responses to “Georgia school has 1st integrated prom, no word on “coloreds only” cafeteria”
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1. Kris said:
April 24, 2007 @ 8:08 am | Quote
“I’m shocked this kind of blatant racism still exists, in this day and age”
Hey, apparently you haven’t spent alot of time down in the deep South. Believe me, it exists. Maybe not so blatant as ‘No coloreds here’ or ‘white bathroom ONLY’, but it is there.
2. The Kept Woman said:
April 25, 2007 @ 7:28 pm | Quote
Kris is dead on to what I was going to say. Yes, it’s still here in the North to some extent but old habits die hard in the former Confederacy…
3. Susan said:
April 30, 2007 @ 8:33 pm | Quote
Whoa. I’m a yank, too, and found this news sad and puzzling. But I suppose it’s a sign of progress…even if a few decades later than I would have expected.
BTW, I’ve really enjoyed the essays and the blog on your site.
4. Kris said:
May 1, 2007 @ 5:27 pm | Quote
I once walked into a diner/gas station in Southern Alabama with two men who happened to be black and Native American, respectively. I swear to you the ENTIRE room went dead quiet and a few people actually dropped their mouths as well as their forks. Nobody said a thing, but it was very well implied what everyone was thinking. We paid for the gas and as soon as we were out, conversation sparked up again. It was an experience, for sure.
5. SewingSiren said:
May 3, 2007 @ 4:06 pm | Quote
How many all white or all black proms are held each spring in the public and private schools in Chicago(and its suburbs)?
Sadly, racism isn’t just in the south and your fooling yourself if you think it is.
6. Prescott said:
May 4, 2007 @ 9:20 am | Quote
I don’t know — how many? I must be more sheltered than I thought because I have not heard of any fully sanctioned by the school district.
And for the record, I acknowledged that racism still exists, and I made no generalities regarding the south.