School's first integrated prom held in 2008

Tonight HBO will air a show called Prom Night In Mississippi.

From Teaching Tolerance:

In 2008, Mississippi's Charleston High School held its first racially integrated prom.

Yes, you read the year right. 2008.

Producer/director Paul Saltzman was on hand to film the prom and the events leading up to it. His documentary, Prom Night in Mississippi, airs on HBO tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Teaching Tolerance has teamed up with Saltzman and HBO to create a teacher's guide to help you and your students explore the deeper meanings of the film.

Prom Night in Mississippi Teacher's Guide

 

Ooh, thanks for posting! My students and I read an article about this from the NY Times in June. I totally would have missed it.

 

I heard about this when it first happened. Didn't they report that it was the choice of everyone involved to be segregated? I don't think it was forced segregation. I don't have HBO so I'll have to try to catch it online somewhere later.

 

Wow that is sad.

 

My husband was just talking about this.

 

Thank you for sharing, Bandnerd.

 

Believe it or not segregation is alive and kicking in Ms, that is the main reason why "private schools" came along.

 

I think HBO is a bit misleading. If this is the same school I saw on the news (or maybe it was Channel One) last year at prom time, no "official" segregation had been enforced previously. The students themselves wanted separate proms, citing music choices, etc. While an integrated prom is obviously an awesome stride in race relations among the students, no school or city policy was forcing segregation.

 

I don't know if I'd say ALL that, at least not anywhere I've lived in Mississippi.

 

Not forced but by choice.