High School Students Determined to End School’s Outdated (And Absurd) Segregated Proms
Dividing up a prom based on race is not a black-and-white issue at Georgia’s Wilcox County High School.
It may sound hard to believe in the 21st century, but the school actually holds different proms for white and black students.
Several students are fighting to change the system by organizing a prom on April 27 for all students regardless of skin color, with the senior class raising money to put it on. School officials are not involved. One student, Keela Bloodworth, said, “If we don’t change it, nobody else will.”
The school, which does not have a prom it sponsors on its own, has said it will allow a prom for students of all color, but it wouldn’t put an end to the segregated dances. The policy seems to be so entrenched that police made a biracial student leave the white prom last year.
Reaction to the integrated dances has been mixed. While students are working to make it a reality, one student said, "I actually put up posters for the integrated prom and we've had people ripping them down at the school.”
The school also holds two homecoming dances, although it appears to be creeping along the progression highway – this year marked the first time there was only one king and queen. An African-American girl named Quanesha Wallace was named queen, while a Caucasian boy was named king.
Wallace said, "I felt like there had to be a change because for me to be a black person and the king to be a white person, I felt like, you know why can't we come together.”