Central Holmes Christian School (CHCS), previously Central Holmes Academy,"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 [...]" is a private non-sectarian Christian school in Lexington, Mississippi."Contact Us ." Central Holmes Christian School. Retrieved on March 23, 2013. "130 Robert E. Lee Street Lexington, MS 39095" It includes elementary, middle, and high school grades 1-12."Handbook 2011-2012." (Archive) Central Holmes Christian School. Retrieved on March 23, 2013. The school has a controversial history as a segregation academy.
History
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"Cobb, p. 248. as a segregation academy. The Wall Street Journal reported that the school was established by a chapter of the White Citizens' Council. 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.Bolton (2005), The Hardest Deal of All, p. 136
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.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). But across the state as a whole, only a very small minority of white students were withdrawn to attend private schools; most stayed in public schools.Bolton (2005), The Hardest Deal of All, pp. 178-179 In 2016, Central Holmes Christian School had 265 students enrolled. Of these, thirty-one (14%) were nonwhite, while about 70% of the population of the town of Lexington was black.
Alumni Melany Neilson - author
References
Further reading Bolton, Charles C. The Hardest Deal of All: The Battle Over School Integration in Mississippi, 1870-1980. University Press of Mississippi, 2005. , 9781604730609. Cobb, James Charles. The Most Southern Place on Earth: The Mississippi Delta and the Roots of Regional Identity. Oxford University Press, 1994. , 9780195089134.
External links
Central Holmes Christian School