A year after holding their first integrated prom, some students at Taylor County High School have decided to again hold a separate, private party for whites only.
Juniors are in charge of planning the prom each year and last year they decided to have just one dance ? the first integrated prom in 31 years in the rural Georgia county 150 miles south of Atlanta.
Until then, parents and students organized separate proms for whites and blacks after school officials stopped sponsoring dances, in part because they wanted to avoid problems arising from interracial dating.
This year, a small number of white juniors decided they wanted a separate prom.
"They influenced the others," said McCrary, who plans to major in biology at Columbus State University. "They didn't vote on anything. They said, 'This is what we're going to do.'"
The school has 439 students, 232 of them black. McCrary and a white friend passed out fliers informing students of all races that they would be welcome at the May 9 prom at nearby Fort Valley State University.
After school integration, separate proms were common in the rural South, but Taylor County was among the last to cling to the practice.
