PROM NIGHT IN MISSISSIPPI (2009)

A theatrical documentary film by Paul Saltzman

Prom Night in Mississippi is a 2009 Canadian-American documentary film written and

directed by Paul Saltzman. The documentary follows a group of 2008 Charleston High
School high school seniors in Charleston, Mississippi as they prepare for their senior prom,
the first racially integrated prom in Charleston history.

Background
In the summer of 1965, Paul Saltzman was in the Mississippi Delta doing voter registration
work with SNCC - the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee - and, like many other
civil rights workers, was assaulted and jailed. This would later lead him to go back to the area
to explore the concept of prejudice and racism with his first documentary feature film, Prom
Night in Mississippi.
While the United States Supreme Court declared that segregated schools were
unconstitutional in 1954, change came slowly to Charleston, Mississippi. Once a haven for
the Ku Klux Klan, Charleston maintained segregated public schools until well into the 1970's,
and even then, one major event in the school year was still divided along racial lines.

Summary
Charleston's high school had separate Senior Proms for white and African-American students.
In 1997, Academy Award–winning actor Morgan Freeman offered to pay for the senior prom
at Charleston High School in Mississippi under one condition: the prom had to be racially
integrated. His offer was ignored.
In 2008, Freeman offered again. This time the school board accepted, and history was made.
Charleston High School had its first-ever integrated prom - in 2008. Until then, blacks and
whites had had separate proms even though their classrooms have been integrated for
decades.
In 2008, Charleston High School had 415 students, 70% black and 30% white.
Canadian filmmaker Paul Saltzman follows students, teachers and parents in the lead-up to
the big day. The students discuss segregation in Charleston and how they feel about it. "Billy
Joe," an enlightened white senior, appears on camera in shadow, fearing his racist parents will
disown him if they know his true feelings.
The documentary also explores issues such as interracial relationships, and what the parents
think about an integrated prom.
Some white parents forbid their children to attend the integrated prom and hold a separate
white-only dance.
Prom Night in Mississippi captures a big moment in a small town.
Important
1954 - The U.S. Supreme Court orders the integration of all segregated schools in America,
including all their events.
1970 - The town of Charleston, Mississippi, finally allows black students into their one high
school. White parents refuse to integrate the school Graduation Dance, starting a tradition of
separate, parent-organized White Proms and Black Proms.
2008 - Change happens. Charleston announced that black and white students would attend the
same prom for the first time.
A segregated prom refers to the practice of United States high schools, generally located in
the Deep South, of holding racially segregated proms for white and black students.