Natchez Junior College Class of 1961

Natchez Junior College Class of 1961
The Natchez Museum of African-American History and Culture
Adams County, Mississippi 2011

Even after the school integration laws passed because of the Supreme Court's ruling on Brown vs. Board of Education case of 1954, southern states were slow to integrate schools citing the 'by all deliberate speed' clause in the new law  and devising excuses as to why  schools could not be integrated quickly. Some states and counties didn't even offer high school educations to the African-American young people who lived in the rural areas of their locales. One such place was rural Adams County, Mississippi. There was no local high school for the youth who lived out in the country. The parents of these young people were forced to come up with a solution to offer a high school education to their children. In order to educate their children at the high school level, they would have to lease a building at Natchez Junior College. The leasing arrangement dictated that the students could only attend in the evenings after the college classes were completed daily. Above is a photo of the Natchez Junior College High School Class of 1961 which is prominently displayed at the Natchez Museum of African-American History and Culture in Adams County, Mississippi.