Pillow Academy

Coordinates: 33°32′03″N 90°15′16″W / 33.534258°N 90.254384°W / 33.534258; -90.254384

Pillow Academy
Name

Pillow Academy

Address

U.S. Highway 82 W.

City

Leflore County, Mississippi

Established

1966

Type

Independent

Religion

Christian

Students

Coeducational

Grades

K4 through 12

Tuition

Approximately $5,000

Membership and Accreditations

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools

Mascot

Mustangs

Colors

Green and Gold

Yearbook

Mustang Memories

Newspaper

Pony Express

Website

Link

Pillow Academy (PA) is an independent, co-educational college preparatory school in unincorporated Leflore County, Mississippi, near Greenwood.[1] It was founded by white parents in 1966 as a segregation academy to avoid having their children attend school with blacks.

History

The school opened with grades K-8 in 1966.[1] It began as a segregation academy, started in resistance to the integration of the public school system ordered by federal courts more than a decade after segregated schools were ruled to be unconstitutional.[2] From 1967-1969 grades 9 and 10 were established. In 1969 a new high school building was built, and grades 11 and 12 were added.[1] One of the founders of the Pillow Academy was Robert B. Patterson, also founder of the Association of White Citizens' Councils, which opposed the civil rights movement, including allowing African Americans their constitutional right to vote.[3]

In a 10-year period until 1998, enrollment at Pillow grew by almost 25%. Many students who would have otherwise attended public schools, which were becoming mostly black, attended Pillow. In 1998 Richard Rubin of The New York Times wrote, "Whites in Greenwood are much more likely today than they were 10 years ago to openly admit that they send their children to Pillow Academy not because it is a better school but because of its racial composition."[3]

Campus

The 58-acre (23 ha) campus is located along U.S. Highway 82, 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Greenwood.[4]

Student body

In the 2010-2011 school year the school had 816 students. Students come from Leflore, Carroll, Grenada, Holmes, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, and Washington counties.[4]

The New York Times noted that Pillow Academy enrolled almost 800 students for the 1997-98 school year; none was black. A decade before, the public high school had about equal numbers of black and white students but by 1998 was predominately black.[3] The school was economically segregated, as most of its students were middle-class, in an area where many African Americans were poor.

In the 2009-2010 school year, the demographic profile of the student body was 96.0% white, 1.7% black, and 1.9% Asian.[5] By comparison, the 2010 demographic profile of Leflore County showed the population as 24.9% white, 72.7% black, and 0.6% Asian.[6]

Notable alumni

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "About PA." Pillow Academy. Retrieved on August 10, 2010.
  2. ↑ Adam Lynch (18 November 2009). "Ceara's Season". Jackson Free Press. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 Richard Rubin (30 August 1998). "Should the Mississippi Files Have Been Re-opened?". New York Times. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  4. 1 2 "Profile of Pillow Academy 2010-2011." Pillow Academy. Retrieved on March 25, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Pillow Academy". Private School Universe Survey. U.S. Department of Education.
  6. ↑ "2010 Demographic Profile Data". U.S. Census Bureau. 2010.
  7. ↑ "Louis Coleman Stats". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
  8. ↑ "United Postal Service Profile". United Postal Service. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
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