I've been away from the blog for about a month preparing for a redesign in addition to other related projects. The new look of the site will be up by the end of next week.
Today, I did want to briefly mention a rather upsetting, yet important article I read in yesterday's New York Times Sunday Magazine. The article details the racially segregated high school proms of Montgomery County High School in Mount Vernon, GA. Since 1971, the school's senior prom has been this way. 1971 is also the year the school was integrated. (The above photo was take by NYT photographer Gillian Laub). Writer Sara Corbertt spoke to several students of Montgomer County High School, some who seemed to be torn by their situations, while others appeared to just accept things as they are.
It's terribly disappointing that in the same year our country inaugurates Barack Obama as the first African-American President, episodes such as this continue. It also says a great deal about our country and the challenges we face.
16 years ago, when researching colleges during my junior year of high school, I learned that the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana had a separate African-American homecoming dance. I grew up in the well integrated suburban Chicago town Oak Park and at the time, I couldn't imagine something like this existing and I didn't want to be a part of a school or community that felt that his was "normal". Fast forward to 2009, and I'm even more blown away and saddened.
The documentary Prom Night in Mississippi details a similar story. Airing on HBO in June, the film profiles Charleston High School's first intergrated prom which took place in 2008 after actor Morgan Freeman offered the school, located in his hometown, a deal they, thankfully, couldn't refuse. He offered to pay for the high school's upcoming senior prom if they agreed to end its legacy of racial segregation. The film has collected numerous awards including Best Documentary Feataure at the 2009 AFI Dallas International Film Festival, the Audience Award at the 2009 Oxford Film Festival, and was screened at Sundance earlier this year (the above photo is from the films website).
Hey there!
Thanks for this Trina. I grew up in segregation, and when bussed to a white elementary school, the hostility I had to endure for 3 years was horrendous. You were fortunate to grow up in an integrated suburb. My integrated working class community was ended by white flight; parents didn't want to live in my community when their kids hit dating age.
If this nonsense happens when folks are young, how does it stop at adulthood? It's unfortunate Morgan Freeman had to "pay" in order to stop it, but (sigh) I guess that's what you have to do; money talks, reason walks.
Posted by: sahara | May 26, 2009 at 03:10 PM
Hey Sahara. I cannot imagine going to school under those circumstances, especially for three years. School is a place where one should feel safe, not attacked. Teenagers enough things to worry about. And in for this to continue in 2009 is shameful.
Posted by: Trina Robinson | May 26, 2009 at 06:20 PM