Central Holmes Christian School

Central Holmes Christian School (CHCS), previously Central Holmes Academy,[3] is a private non-sectarian Christian school in Lexington, Mississippi.[4] It includes elementary, middle, and high school grades 1-12.[5] The school has a controversial history as a segregation academy.

Central Holmes Christian School
Location
Lexington, Mississippi
Coordinates33.1152851°N 90.0415682°W / 33.1152851; -90.0415682
Information
Established1967 (1967)[1]
Faculty14.3[2]
GradesPre-Kindergarten-12
Enrollment265[2]
Campus typeRemote rural
Color(s)Red, White and Blue
Team nameTrojans
Websitewww.chcstrojans.com

History
Further information: Education segregation in the Mississippi Red Clay region

In the late 1960s, public schools in Holmes County, Mississippi and across the state were being racially integrated. The majority of the county population was black, as in many parts of the Delta. Many white parents withdrew their children from the public system and began sending them to Central Holmes, a newly established private school. James Charles Cobb wrote that Central Holmes Academy had been "hastily constructed"[6] as a segregation academy. The Wall Street Journal reported that the school was established by a chapter of the White Citizens' Council.[7] A group of young men enrolled in a vocational program funded by the federal government of the United States used their training to establish the school.[8]

On its establishment, almost every white child in Lexington was enrolled in Central Holmes Christian Academy to avoid having them attend school with black children.[9] But across the state as a whole, only a very small minority of white students were withdrawn to attend private schools; most stayed in public schools.[10] In 2016, Central Holmes Christian School had 265 students enrolled. Of these, thirty-one (14%) were nonwhite,[11] while about 70% of the population of the town of Lexington was black.

Alumni

Melany Neilson - author[12]

References
  1. Howell, Jeffery B. (2017-03-22). Hazel Brannon Smith: The Female Crusading Scalawag. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781496810823.
  2. "Private School Universe Survey (PSS): Public-Use Data for School Year 2015-16". NCES. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  3. "Robyn M. McCrory: Mayor: City of Lexington.(50 Leading..." Mississippi Business Journal. October 29, 2007. Retrieved from Google News on March 23, 2013. "At Central Holmes Academy (now known as Central Holmes Christian School), McCrory emerged as a team leader. A cheerleader, class vice president and [...]"
  4. "Contact Us Archived 2013-10-03 at the Wayback Machine." Central Holmes Christian School. Retrieved on March 23, 2013. "130 Robert E. Lee Street Lexington, MS 39095"
  5. "Handbook 2011-2012." (Archive) Central Holmes Christian School. Retrieved on March 23, 2013.
  6. Cobb, p. 248.
  7. Maxwell, Neil (November 12, 1969). "Integration Irony". Wall Street Journal.
  8. Bolton (2005), The Hardest Deal of All , p. 136
  9. Cooper, Michael (reviewer). "An Insider's Account of Race and Politics in the Delta" (Archive) Southern Changes, published by Emory University, 1989. Volume 11, Number 6. Retrieved on March 23, 2013. Includes an excerpt from Even Mississippi by Melany Neilson (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1989. xiv, pp. 199).
  10. Bolton (2005), The Hardest Deal of All, pp. 178-179
  11. "Central Holmes Christian School". National Center for Education Statisitcs. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  12. Tomberlin, Joseph A. (1990). "Reviewed work: Even Mississippi, Melany Neilson". The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 74 (1): 199–201. JSTOR 40582136.

Further reading
  • Bolton, Charles C. The Hardest Deal of All: The Battle Over School Integration in Mississippi, 1870-1980. University Press of Mississippi, 2005. ISBN 1604730609, 9781604730609.
  • Cobb, James Charles. The Most Southern Place on Earth: The Mississippi Delta and the Roots of Regional Identity. Oxford University Press, 1994. ISBN 0195089138, 9780195089134.
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