How an Alabama Town Staved Off School Resegregation

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https://www.propublica.org/article/thomasville-alabama-segregation-academies

How an Alabama Town Staved Off School Resegregation



A.L. Martin High School taught Black students in Thomasville, Alabama, until it was closed during desegregation and all of its students were forced to attend the local white high school. Credit:Lt. R.C. Brooks of the Alabama Highway Patrol/Alabama Department of Archives and History

by Jennifer Berry Hawes
May 29, 5 a.m. EDT

In the 1970s, Black students organized protests and a boycott that cost local white businesses money. Today, many families who could afford private school still choose Thomasville’s public schools.

I recently traveled to rural Wilcox County, in Alabama’s Black Belt, to understand the origins of the local “segregation academy” and how it still divides the broader community. It was the first story in our series about segregation academies, private schools that opened across the Deep South after the U.S Supreme Court released its landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. White Southerners opened hundreds — perhaps thousands — of these schools, which allowed white children to flee just as Black children arrived in the public schools. Now, 70 years later, ProPublica has found that hundreds of these academies still operate. Where they do, schools often remain segregated — and as a result, so do entire communities.

While I was in Wilcox County, I wondered: How would things be different if the segregation academy didn’t exist? Locals I met in the county seat of Camden mentioned another small town just a short drive over the county line where people had chosen a different path.

So I headed to Thomasville, Alabama, to meet current school leaders and a group of Black former students who were on the front lines during desegregation. They described the critical turning points when Black and white residents alike made decisions that resulted in integrated public schools and a very different future for the town’s schoolchildren.

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[JustAnotherGen]

1. It's an open secret

Now, 70 years later, ProPublica has found that hundreds of these academies still operate. Where they do, schools often remain segregated — and as a result, so do entire communities.

ProPublica wasn't aware - but they didn't 'find' anything.

This is why I get so pissed about the SALT Cap. Until it's proven that my 'double' property taxes are not going to fund these white's only schools in the South - it's a slap in the face to not just myself, but to every black home owner in high Cost of Living States whose municipalities fully fund their public schools. 73% of my property taxes go to my public schools (a point of pride) - but not allowing me to deduct that tax from the Federal government has increased our tax bill by $9800 this year alone.

It's a grift - and if I could donate money to the public school in the article - or supplies/equipment - I would. Fed Gov under Trump decided they wanted to be thieves and give it to racists instead.