Event: The Legacy of Segregation Academies

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled state-sanctioned school segregation unconstitutional in the 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, white parents and community leaders opened hundreds of private schools across the Deep South that came to be known as “segregation academies.” Seven decades after Brown, many of these private schools survive and often continue to perpetuate segregated education systems.

During this virtual event — the first in a series focused on education in 2024 — reporter Jennifer Berry Hawes and a panel of speakers will discuss the initial story in Hawes’ series on segregation academies and how these institutions preserve divisions within communities. It will also address the history of these schools and what racial divisions still look like in one Black Belt county.

Speakers include:

Amberly Sheffield, The University of Mississippi PhD student and historical consultant
Dr. Andre Saulsberry, Wilcox County Public Schools superintendent
Jennifer Berry Hawes, ProPublica reporter
Mara Shalhoup, ProPublica South editor
Sheryl Threadgill-Matthews, BAMA Kids, Inc. executive director, and one of the first Black students to desegregate Wilcox County schools

Read more on this series from reporter Jennifer Berry Hawes here: https://www.propublica.org/people/jen...

Help ProPublica report on education. Take a few minutes to join our source network and share what you know: https://www.propublica.org/getinvolve...

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