Mississippi Black Woman Desegregated High School—Then Faced Terror and Isolation

Imagery often paints the picture of segregation ending at the school steps, but one woman’s story gives insight into what life was like once the school doors closed. In 1965, history maker Mary Smith-Blackmon was one of three Black students to desegregate Canton High School in Mississippi after transferring from the all-Black Rogers High.

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Only 25 Black people had enrolled in a Canton majority-white school between 1965 and 1966, according to the Civil Rights Movement Archive…

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