Wilcox County High School students, in Rochelle, Ga. danced together at a prom that wasn’t segregated for the first time in the schools 40 year history. Rochelle is 158 mile south of Atlanta and holds a population of about 1,600. African Americans make up about 53 percent of the population and whites, 46 percent.
Students have pushed for a change over the years to end the segregated prom. However, over the last few decades, the school board has avoided officially endorsing integrated prom festivities. Instead, the board relied on parents to host and control invitations leading to year after year of two dances – one for white students and one for the black students.
Finally this year, a group of Wilcox County seniors took a stand and decided to handle the issue themselves.
Four girls, two black and two white, created a Facebook page in hopes of support and donations to fund an independent bash for all students.
“We were doing that so we could get the word out; we wanted people to donate and help us out with what we were doing,” said senior Mareshia Rucker.
“I felt like there had to be a change,” said Quanesha. “For me, I felt like why can’t we come together?”
Unfortunately, the efforts of the four girls weren’t accepted by all. Some parents and students were not very supportive of having or participating in an integrated dance, so once again this year there was a segregated prom attended only by white students. The private event was organized by white parents.
