A high school in Georgia partied like it was 1963 after hosting its first ever racially integrated prom on Saturday.
Almost 50 years after Martin Luther King, Jr. ‘s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, Wilcox County High School students finally got a chance to attend a racially integrated prom; previously, the school has staged two private “separate but equal” proms for black and white kids.
The 1st annual Wilcox County Integrated Prom, organized by four students (two white, two black) and held at the Cordele Community Clubhouse in neighboring Crisp County, put paid to such toxic traditions.
Alexis Miller, a Caucasian student with an African-American boyfriend, told NBC affiliate WMGT , “I feel like we are living Martin Luther King’s dream.”
Yet even in 2013, just making the prom happen was difficult enough. Speaking earlier this month to CBS Atlanta , prom organizer Keela Bloodworth revealed, “I put up posters for the integrated prom, and we’ve had people ripping them down at school.”
Opposition to the integrated prom took other forms. While the event was well-attended, reports suggest “dozens” of students still wound up at the segregated “whites-only” prom staged the previous Saturday.
However, the integrated prom has at least achieved one thing: It’s finally encouraged local school district officials to consider organizing an official prom for the entire student body from next year – regardless of skin color.
[Image via Shutterstock.com ]
