Honors Theses
Date of Award
2007
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
History
First Advisor
Charles Eagles
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
This thesis details the history of Jackson, Mississippi through the eyes of education, specifically through the public schools, and in particular Bailey Junior High (present day Bailey Magnet School). Newspaper articles from Jackson’s primary media suppliers, along with personal interviews and academic essays, were used to gather information on the subject. Chapter One explores the early years of segregated public education in Jackson, as well as the beginning of Bailey Junior High and the community investment in Jackson Public Schools in the 1930s and 1940s. After World War II, the city’s growing population brought greater demands for classroom space, and voters approved multiple school bonds for building and expansion. Also in this period, leaders in the black community began to push for equality in their separate school system. Chapter Two diverts its focus from Bailey Junior High and chronicles the fight for desegregation in Mississippi and Jackson schools following Brown v Board in 1954. Chapter Three continues along this discussion and details the local effects of courtordered desegregation in 1970. Jackson Public Schools lost more than 10,000 white students in the following years and found itself under ever-changing desegregation schemes. Most of the efforts of school administrators revolved around stabilizing the schools and stemming white flight in this decade. Chapter Four describes the rift in community support for Jackson Public Schools that lasted into the 1980s and was illustrated in the failed school bond of 1983. The story refocuses on Bailey Junior High during this time as an example of success and failure in district schools. Chapter Five looks at more recent dissatisfaction in Jackson schools and the actions that officials have taken to surmount fhistrations. Bailey again offers an insightful cross-section of these developments on a micro level. Also in the 1990s, Jackson’s school district campaigned to keep pace with growth in suburban school funding and construction, and the city’s voters exercised greater cooperation by approving school bonds in 1991 and 2006.
Recommended Citation
Forester, Marcial Davidson III, "Bailey Junior High and the Desegregation of Jackson Public Schools" (2007). Honors Theses. 2328.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/2328
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