Lee Academy (Mississippi)

Lee Academy
Location
Lee Academy
Clarksdale, Mississippi
Mississippi Delta
Coordinates 34°13′15″N 90°35′16″W / 34.220959°N 90.5878866°W / 34.220959; -90.5878866Coordinates: 34°13′15″N 90°35′16″W / 34.220959°N 90.5878866°W / 34.220959; -90.5878866
Information
Opened 1970
Grades 7-12
Website www.leeacademycolts.org
Last updated: 2 December 2017

Lee Academy is a grade 7–12 private school in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

The school opened in 1970 as a segregation academy.[1] Its initial enrollment was 654 students.[2]

As of 1986, the school had never enrolled a black student.[3] The headmaster, Gene Barbor, told a newspaper that the school "would admit blacks as long as they were cultured or want a college prep background. We wouldn't take any shuckers or jivers."[3]

In 2001, Bob Edward, the former Clarksdale Municipal School District superintendent, recalled that the opening of Lee Academy was "the worst thing that ever happened to our schools." He explained that when the public schools integrated, white families "ran" to private schools.[1]

Many members of the American football team at Coahoma County High School transferred to Lee Academy as integration via court order was about to occur.[4]

As of 2018, the schools website states that the school was founded to ensure "retention of local control of policies".[5]

As of 2010, 92% of the students were white. This differed from Clarksdale High School, where 92% were black.[6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Massey, Richard (March 17, 2001). "Is Bussing Order Still Needed?". Clarksdale Pres Register. p. 1.
  2. ↑ "History." Lee Academy. Retrieved on July 6, 2017.
  3. 1 2 Ingram, Ruth (November 9, 1986). "Perception of Racism still Keeping Black Students From Academies". Clarion Ledger. p. G1 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Hamlin, Françoise N. Crossroads at Clarksdale: The Black Freedom Struggle in the Mississippi Delta After World War II (John Hope Franklin series in African American history and culture). University of North Carolina Press, 2012. ISBN 0807835498, 9780807835494. p. 196.
  5. ↑ "History". Lee Academy - Clarksdale, MS. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
  6. ↑ Dellinger, Matt. Interstate 69: The Unfinished History of the Last Great American Highway. Simon and Schuster, August 24, 2010. ISBN 143917573X, 9781439175736. p. 147.


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