Even in the 21st century, black and white students at Wilcox County High School in south Georgia aren’t allowed to attend the same prom. Parents and students from the high school sponsored a segregated prom. Also, any students who break the skin-dress code are also denied entry to the all-white prom.
A group of mixed-race students who attend Wilcox County High School are protesting the segregated prom and encouraging their friends and peers to eliminate racism from their lives and from the school. “We’re embarrassed,” says Wilcox County High School student, Stephanie Sinnot. “We are all friends, that’s just kind of not right that we cant go to prom together,” says another student.
Officials at Wilcox County High School are the ones who should be embarrassed since segregation has been unconstitutional since 1954. Since parents and students fund the prom, the administration says that there is nothing they can do about the situation. With that being said, officials have offered to permit an integrated prom but they won’t stop segregated proms or take a stance on the racist issues.
Last year, the police turned a biracial student away at the prom for white students. Not only is prom segregated, but homecoming is segregated too. Furthermore, the school decided to elect only one pair of students for homecoming queen and king for the first time, and a an integrated prom-organizing student won. Even after she won, she still wasn’t allowed to attend the white homecoming event. The king and queen took separate photographs for the school yearbook.
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