User:Historians363/EducationalSegregationinSunflowerCountyMississippi

Educational Segregation in Sunflower County, Mississippi

Introduction: The historical sequence of segregation, desegregation, and resegregation is not unique to the schools of Sunflower County, especially the town of Drew. Though timetables vary, the pattern is increasingly evident in public education systems throughout the U.S. This pattern portends disastrous consequences, especially, for youth of color.

Segregation

    a.	1950s political and social climate towards African Americans 
    b.	Segregation in Drew 
             •	Sen. Eastland stated that Sunflower County was “the worst county in the worst state” concerning racial discrimination. (Let the People Decide by J. Todd Moye P. 20)
             •	In 1960 2/3s of the population in Sunflower County was black, and the average income of those blacks were lower than the federal poverty (Moye, P. 24)
             •	“The absence of an established African American middle class made civil rights organizing in Sunflower County more perilous than it might have been otherwise.” (Moye, P. 24)
                     i.	Corruption of Police force
                            1.	Two policemen: ‘Good Rockin’ Floyd and ‘Good Rockin’ Flemmins would beat black men and tear out their goatees and punch pregnant black women in their stomachs. They              would tell them to leave town until the baby was born. 
                    ii.	Sharecropping 
                            1.	Due to sharecropping, blacks had few options. (Asch, P. 257)
                   iii.	School segregation
                            1.	Black kids didn’t have the opportunity to go to school because they had to work in the fields. Their schooling was squeezed in between the cultivation of crops.
                            2.	African American children were not allowed to have school buses or adequate supplies. Many children didn’t go to school because it was too far to walk or it would be too cold in the winter. 
                            3.	Sunflower County estimated that there were 20,473 African Americans between the ages of 6-21, however only 7,709 of them were enrolled in schools. (Moye, P. 47) 
                            4.	African American schools had to use hand-me-down school buses from the white schools. (Moye, P. 47)
                            5.	The University of Mississippi’s Bureau of Education Research tried to test black schoolchildren, but there were too few desks and the students had no knowledge how to take a standardized testing. (Moye, P. 47)
                            6.	Black students had to pay $1-6 for heating in the winter.  (Moye 48-49)
                            7.	The Bureau of Education found that to make the minimum improvements to the black schools, Sunflower County would have needed to spend $2,493, 745; the county refused to spend the money. (Moye 49)
                            8.	When Gov. Hugh White visited Indianola in 1953, he stated that finding enough money to support the two separate school systems was the biggest financial problem of his administration. (Moye 51)

Desegregation

    a.	Mae Bertha Carter: 
             i.	Mae Bertha Carter dreamed to leave the farm after her children were educated. There were great discrepancies between the two schools systems in Drew. Carter brought attention to desegregating the schools.
            ii.	“If the blacks hadn’t fought they would still be slaves today. Somebody had to step up and say no we are not taking this anymore.”
    b.	Green v. County School Bard of New Kent County, Virginia 1968 and Alexander v. Holmes County, Mississippi, Board of Education 1969 (The Senator & The Sharecropper by Chris Myers Asch P. 273-274)
             i.	Supreme Court declared that integration had to accomplished immediately 
    c.	U.S. district judge William Keady ordered the Indianola school district to fully integrate the public schools (Chris Asch P. 274)

    d.	 In early 1965, to comply with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and continue receiving federal funds, the Drew school district submitted a “freedom of choice” plan to the federal government. 
             i.	The Carter children’s experience in the all-white Drew high school.

Resegregation

    a.	Currently in Drew, the public education is predominately black and private education is predominately white.
    b.	The majority of white parents rejected and they established private white schools, named “segregation academies” by critics. Several were established in Sunflower County, including Indianola Academy and North Sunflower Academy. (The Senator & The Sharecropper by Chris Myers Asch P. 273)
    c.	The effects on the new private schools on the remaining public schools.
             i.	Teachers left to work at the private schools.
            ii.	Fewer resources 
           iii.	School board: local community leaders left and the public school system collapsed.
           iv.	Student life in the public school: no proms or dances, limited college-level classes, and continued racial tension 

Incarceration

    a.	The incarceration rate of black male teenagers and the dropout rates in Drew’s public schools are shockingly similar. The whole business of incarceration has ceased to be punishment and has taken on a life of its own.
             i.	Mae Bertha Carter- “The most important thing is to get an education because without an education you are nowhere.”
    b.	Mississippi state penitentiary received over 60 million dollars in funding but the local college barely received 20 million dollars. The more education the less likely you are going to be winding up in prison.

External links

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