Lee Academy (Mississippi)

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

Lee Academy
Location
Clarksdale, Mississippi

Mississippi Delta
Coordinates34.220959°N 90.5878866°W / 34.220959; -90.5878866
Information
Opened1970
Grades7-12
Websitewww.leeacademycolts.org
Last updated: 2 December 2017

The school opened in 1970 as a segregation academy,[1] with an initial enrollment of 654 students.[2] In 1970, when Clarksdale finally submitted to integration, the public schools closed for an "integration break". When they reopened after a one-day hiatus, nearly all of the white students transferred to Lee or other brand-new segregation academies.[3]

As of 1986, the school had never enrolled a black student.[4] 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."[4][5][6]

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.[7]

As of 2019, the school's website states that the school was founded to ensure "retention of local control of policies".[8]

As of 2010, 92% of the students were white. This differed from Clarksdale High School, where 92% were black.[9]

See also

References
  1. Massey, Richard (March 17, 2001). "Is Bussing Order Still Needed?". Clarksdale Press Register. p. 1.
  2. "History." Lee Academy. Retrieved on July 6, 2017.
  3. DREILINGER, DANIELLE (September 19, 2019). "A charter school faces the ugly history of school choice in the Deep South". Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  4. Ingram, Ruth (November 9, 1986). "Perception of Racism still Keeping Black Students From Academies". Clarion Ledger. p. G1 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. Pittman, Ashton (March 29, 2019). "GOP Leaders Trick House Into Sending $2 Million to Private Schools". Jackson Free Press.
  6. Jones, Kevin (April 28, 1985). "School fights to regain tax-exempt status". Clarion-Ledger. p. 20A.
  7. 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.
  8. "History". Lee Academy - Clarksdale, MS. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
  9. 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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