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Middle School
Black History Month 2026: Celebrating Our Black History
Black History Month 2026: Celebrating Our Black History
Black History Month is a time to honor the resilience, courage, and achievements of generations of African Americans who persevered through adversity to advance freedom, equity, and justice. Jackson Public Schools proudly celebrates Black history by uplifting the people and stories that paved the way for our district’s growth and strength, shaping JPS into a thriving educational community at the heart of Mississippi.
Quick Facts
Jackson Public Schools was once named the Jackson Municipal Separate School District.
It was separated by race into all-black and predominantly white schools. Brinkley, Jim Hill, and Lanier high schools served only black students, while Murrah, Central, Provine, and Wingfield served predominantly white students. After the Civil Right Act of 1964 students were allowed to voluntarily integrate white schools in Jackson.
Hezekiah Watkins was a 13-year-old student at Rowan Junior High School when he was arrested on July 7, 1961.
Watkins was the youngest Freedom Rider, a group of civil rights activists who took bus trips throughout the south to protest segregated terminals. He was sentenced to death row but Gov. Ross Barnett released him at the behest of President John F. Kennedy.
Smith Robertson School, established in 1894, was the first public school for black children in Mississippi.
Smith Robertson, the school's namesake, was the first black Alderman in Jackson and a successful barber. The school was originally named the West Jackson Colored School and became known as the Mother School. One of its most famous students was renowned author Richard Wright.
Lanier High School holds a national championship in basketball.
The 1964-1965 Lanier High School basketball team, coached by Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer Orsmond Jordan, completed a perfect undefeated season (43-0). The Bulldogs averaged 102 points per game and won by an average of 40 points. They went on to win a national championship, beating a team from Virginia in a post-season tournament in Montgomery, Alabama.
In the fall of 1965, 11 black students volunteered to integrate John W. Provine High School.
After attending three years at Jim Hill, the students decided during the senior year to break barriers on behalf of future generations of students in the capital city by enrolling at Provine. They followed through in spite of extreme opposition. The Fearless 11 has been made into a documentary film recounting their experiences.
In 2025, Jackson Public Schools renamed the Career Development Center after Megdar and Myrlie Evers, honoring the enduring legacy of two of Mississippi's most influential civil rights leaders.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on November 20, 2025. The ceremony included remarks from Reena Evers-Everette, daughter of Medgar and Myrlie Evers, who expressed gratitude for the recognition of her family’s legacy. With the renaming, Jackson Public Schools not only pays tribute to the Evers family’s profound impact but also strengthens its commitment to providing transformative opportunities that empower scholars to build successful futures.
Black School Namesakes
Gladys Noel Bates was a native of McComb, Mississippi. Bates was an African-American civil rights pioneer and educator who led legal action for salary equality for African American teachers and principals in the 1950s. The case was a landmark and forerunner for school desegregation cases of the 1950s. The fallout from her action forced Bates and her family to leave Mississippi. She and her husband moved to Denver, Colorado, where she received numerous awards for her achievements as an educator and community leader. A historical marker was dedicated in 2009 commemorating her significant contributions for African-Americans in the state. She was the only living school namesake on opening day at Bates Elementary on September 14, 2010. She passed away one month later, on October 15, 2010.
Thomas W. Cardozo was born in Charleston, South Carolina, to a freeborn African American and a Jewish journalist. After he was married, he moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he became involved in building up the education, economics, and political power of African Americans in Mississippi. He was the first African American to serve as superintendent of education for the state of Mississippi. As state superintendent, he was interested in the education of all children even though the public schools were segregated. The statewide adoption of uniform textbooks was a reform that he supported. After serving as state superintendent, he moved to Massachusetts, where he died in 1881.
Odell Clausell was born on June 18, 1907, in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. She received her early education in the public schools of Copiah County and went from there to New Orleans, LA, where she completed high school at Straight College, now a part of Dillard University.
She received her bachelor's degree from Tuskegee Institute and desiring to become proficient in her chosen profession of teaching, she pursued further education and received her master's degree from Indiana University.
Odell began her teaching career in the Jackson Public School District at the Smith Robertson School in September 1929 and was later transferred to the Martin School where she worked until the time of her death in 1952.
Henry J. Kirksey, a native of Lee County, Mississippi, was an outspoken civil rights activist and one of the first two African-American men elected to the Mississippi Senate after the Reconstruction Era. The election of more than 600 African-Americans to public office in the state can be credited partly to Senator Kirksey’s service as a plaintiff, expert witness, and community organizer. He was primarily responsible for bringing the state of Mississippi into compliance with the 1965 Voting Rights Act. His work also led to the City of Jackson changing its form of government and adopting single-member legislative districts in the state government of Mississippi. Later in his life, Kirksey continued his advocacy work and was an adjunct professor at Tougaloo College, where he lived on campus. He and his wife, Audrie Mann Kirksey, raised three children in Jackson.
Levi John Rowan was born in 1871 in Rodney, Mississippi. He graduate from Alcorn A&M College in 1893. Rowan taught five years in the public school system near Rodney before accepting a position as an English teacher at Alcorn. Later, in 1905, he became president of the college and remained in that capacity until 1911. He was reelected for a second time in 1915 and served as president until his death in 1934. He presided over the most ambitious expansion of facilities and student body growth in Alcorn's early history.
Although Rowan Middle School closed in 2017, the building became home to one of the school district's special programs soon after.
Drs. Aaron and Ollye Shirley were selected as namesakes for Shirley Elementary on December 6, 2021. The couple was well-known in Jackson as healthcare and education advocates.
Dr. Aaron Shirley (January 3, 1933–November 26, 2014), dedicated his life to others as a pioneer of rural and urban health care for the state of Mississippi. A native Mississippian, he became the first African-American resident at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in 1965. Following his residency, he helped to establish the Jackson Hinds Comprehensive Health Center. He also established a comprehensive school-based clinic to provide health and counseling services. It was his commitment to the medical profession that inspired his vision for a one-stop-shop healthcare facility for the underserved. That concept became a reality with the Jackson Medical Mall Thad Cochran Center, acclaimed as one of the nation’s most unique community healthcare endeavors.
Dr. Ollye Shirley (January 10, 1934–September 10, 2016) was an accomplished leader in public television, children’s programming and advocacy, civil rights activism, public education, community service, and more. As a long-serving member of the JPS School Board, she assisted in a significant School Board referendum that allowed the District to expand and improve its facilities. She was also instrumental in expanding Mississippi Educational Television's programming in this area to include Sesame Street, despite initial opposition because of its ethnically diverse cast of adults and children.
Ida B. Wells was born enslaved in Holly Springs, Mississippi in 1862. She gained acclaim as an investigative journalist, educator, and early civil rights movement leader. After losing both of her parents to a yellow fever outbreak when she was only 16, Wells dropped out of school and began teaching to take care of herself and her remaining siblings. Wells began writing about racial prejudice and the conditions of segregated schools. She became a publisher and owner of two newspapers. Wells also co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Throughout a lifetime dedicated to combating prejudice and violence and the fight for African-American equality, especially for women, Wells arguably became the most famous black woman in America.