Monroe County Training School and West Amory High School Oral History Collection

This oral history collection features fifteen interviews with former students of Monroe County Training School and West Amory High School, two historically Black institutions that served generations of Black families in Amory, Mississippi during the mid-twentieth century. Monroe County Training School was established in the 1920s and renamed West Amory High School in 1958–1959 after a new building was constructed. These schools operated as vital academic and cultural institutions until 1969, when the state of Mississippi—under pressure from federal mandates and Supreme Court decisions—was forced to integrate its public school system.

Oral history narrators include: Charles Darden, George Darden, Lillian Freeman, Adrian Haynes, Tyrone James, Angela Lowe, Peirce McIntosh, Ezell McKinney, Norris Nails, Lori Polk, Alfonso Rachel, Arvester Smith, Russell Walton, Daphine Whitfield, and Shirley Whitfield. They reflect on their school days and everyday life experiences—tight-knit neighborhoods, classroom dynamics, athletic achievement, extracurricular activities and clubs, and the guidance of dedicated Black educators like W.F. Pope, the long-time school principal. They also speak candidly about the experience of integration.

The project was conducted and curated by Dr. B. Brian Foster, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia and founder of The Black Volumes, a multimedia archive committed to preserving the history, culture, and placemaking traditions of Black communities in the U.S. In addition to the interviews, Dr. Foster directed a companion short film (with filmmaker Ethan Payne) Legacy, which highlights the efforts of school alumni to document, preserve, celebrate, and continue the school’s history. The project was funded by the Mississippi Humanities Council and the University of Virginia, and sponsored by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture.