Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Life in Mississippi

This was one of the stories in the Metro Section of the Clarion Ledger today. Mississippi is an interesting place to live. At an elementary school in Hattiesburg they celebrate Cotton Picking Day as part of Black History Month. The kids could pay a fee to dress like slaves instead of wearing their school uniforms. Some parents complained, so they decided to replace it with career day.
There was another story in the paper several weeks ago about a high school somewhere in Mississippi where they are having an integrated prom this year. Apparently, it is only the second year for it. Even though segregation ended many years ago, the school continued to have separate white and black proms. Stories like that really surprise me. Maybe I am just naive.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow. hard to believe there are still stories like that. guess jaela would go to 2 proms... :0) did you have a good birthday?? jonah turned 3 on tuesday. thank goodness he is potty trained...it took forever!! don't know if mom told you, but Monty Tuttle had a massive heart attack sunday. he is home and good now. see ya!

Julie said...

Wow, that is bizarre. I've always lived in Michigan, and while there is certainly racism here, it's not quite as blatant as that.

so not mother of the year said...

I went to grad school at Mississippi State in Starkville - so not surprised by your entry. It was a different kind of racism - one that was out there for everyone to see and not hidden at all.