For Teens: Memories of a Prom by Nia Hightower

When it comes to prom, Nia Hightower says the only issues of black and white should be about tuxedos. She recalls her own prom and shares what she thinks students at Taylor County High School are missing.

Teens are looking for a good time. Isn’t that what prom night should be? For most, prom is an American tradition. It’s the last formal, social event for students as they’re on the way out the high school doors.

Seems like mere days have passed since I was running around trying to make sure that last curl was in place and that forehead shine stayed powdered. In fact, it was only days ago that I helped my little sister prepare for her foray into a “Night Under the Stars: here in Montgomery.

As I snapped the final photo and watched her ride off with her date, I couldn’t help but feel relieved that her night would not be marred by the heavy weights of exclusion or separation. The same could not be said of some Butler, Georgia students who would be celebrating their prom a week later.

Taylor County High School students were supposed to attend a prom filled with memory-making moments of the classmates they walk the halls with daily, the classmates they cheer with during sporting events, the classmates they sit with in class. That didn’t happen. Instead, the week prior to the planned prom date, a small group of students decided to hold their prom the “traditional” way, with music, dancing and food – and without their African-American classmates.

The return to a whites-only prom came after last year’s integrated prom, which had broken chain of segregated proms spanning more than 30 years. Why? Nearly 50 years after Brown v. Board of Education, why are there still segregated proms? “It’s just the way it has always been, a tradition,” one student told CNN as she attended the May 3 whites-only prom.

Thank heavens we had the foresight to break away from the “tradition” of slavery, the “tradition” of prohibiting women from voting, the “tradition” of living without electricity. I say this jokingly, but these young people decided, and were supported by their parents, to exclude a group of people from a social gathering on the basis of skin color, and that’s a “tradition” that should have changed long ago. “But there’s going to be black people catering there, so it’s not a racist prom,” said another attendee.

Luckily, a more inclusive prom was held a week later for the Georgia students. Some who attended the whites-only prom also attended the second event.

More than Students at Fault

While I don’t agree with the nonchalant attitude of the students toward this antiquated tradition, I find it hard to blame only them for their decision. Although the school system says it has nothing to do with the segregated affairs, it most certainly contributed to the success of those promoting divisiveness. After much national attention, school superintendent Wayne Smith came out to divert blame from the school district. He told the Columbus, Georgia Ledger-Enquirer that the school decided against sponsoring the proms for liability reasons. He said the nearest place to hold such an event is about 50 miles away. “It’s too much of a liability. It’s too much of a risk,” he told the Ledger-Enquirer. Okay, it’s about liability. That would make sense if they didn’t have school-sanctioned athletic events that require travel to other locales or field trips. Smith said he plans to ask the school board to sponsor the annual prom. This seems to be a step in the right direction for a school that also has segregated student councils and class favorite categories.

Smith said the media’s prom coverage has given the nation an unfair image of Taylor County. “The main thing is the image out there,” he said. “It’s hurting the schools.” Really, though, it’s the student who are being hurt.

May in some bubble of a world the students, who deemed it necessary to have a separate event from their African-American classmates, will be able to function without having to socially deal with people unlike themselves.

That’s unlikely, though, and I fear they will have a hard time coping with the reality of a world filled with people of different cultures, classes, ethnicities, religions, hair colors and shoe sizes. What remains sad about this situation is that, in 2003, this is not an isolated incident. East of Taylor County at the other end of the state sits Johnson County, birthplace of football great Hershel Walker, Johnson County High School continued its tradition of holding separate proms when students held their whites-only prom on May 9. That’s balanced by a dance at St. James High School in southeast Louisiana, where students held their first integrated prom in 34 years on the same night Taylor County held its whites-only event.

Looking back on my own prom, way back in the day, I have to say the most memorable moments were those with my friends, black and white. I couldn’t imagine not being able to see the quiet girl in my Algebra II class tear up the dance floor or the opportunity to see the class clown turned away after strutting into the building with cut-up jean shorts, a tuxedo shirt, bowtie and tails. Non of that would have been possible if my white classmates had not been invited to my prom. Students should not be cheated out of an all-inclusive high school memory. Prom, as an American tradition, a rite of passage, shouldn’t be about segregation. The only issues of black and white for prom should be limited to tuxedos.

Nia Hightower is a research analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project.

Hightower, Nia. “Memories of a Prom,” For Teens. 13 May 2003.