Date of Award

Spring 5-2019

Degree Type

Honors College Thesis

Department

History

First Advisor

Max Grivno

Advisor Department

History

Abstract

There have been numerous works on segregation and desegregation in Mississippi schools. However, much of that research focuses on schools that are in cities, not rural areas. Jones County, Mississippi, a once rural area in southern Mississippi, has had an extensive record of racial segregation in their schools. “The Segregation, Integration, and Resegregation of High Schools in Jones County, Mississippi” focuses on effects of the integration of Jones County High Schools. Jones County fought a desperate fight to continue to segregate its students. With the eventual external integration of the high schools came internal segregation, which had lasting effects on the African American students who integrated these schools. Through interviews, African Americans describe their horrible experiences at the high schools and how they excelled through it. As time continued on, Jones County officials secured ways to resegregate themselves, which included the creation of private Christian schools and the all too familiar “white flight”. As African Americans were fighting to integrate themselves, whites were fighting just as hard to segregate themselves. This left Jones County High Schools in the predicament it still is in today

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