History
Establishment
Norma C. O'Bannon High School (OHS) was established in 1950. The school is named after Norma C. O'Bannon, a career educator in Mississippi who was for many years the Superintendent of Washington County schools. [5]
Norma O'Bannon, was the Illinois-born daughter of a man who bought a plantation in Arcola, Mississippi. [6] She began her career in 1921 at Central School in Greenville, where she taught English literature, civics, and science at the junior high school level. [7] She later moved to elementary education, becoming principal at the city's Starling Elementary School. [7] She became superintendent of Washington County schools in 1948, remaining in that position until 1968. [7] O'Bannon saw a great period of great change during her tenure as superintendent, with Washington County's count of schools being reduced through consolidation from 96 small and segregated facilities to just 6 integrated schools. [8]
Demographics
O'Bannon High School includes students in grades 7 through 12 — effectively combining a junior and senior high school in a single facility. [9] The school has approximately 435 students, making it the 146th largest of the state's 249 public high schools. [10]
The student body of O'Bannon High School is 95% African-American/Black and 3% White American, with an additional 1% listing an ethnicity including "two or more races." [11] These percentages differ significantly from the state averages of 50% black and 46% white for Mississippi public school students. [11] Some 91% of OHS students are eligible for free or reduced price school lunches, in comparison to 71% of Mississippi students statewide. [11]
The disproportionately high percentage of black students at O'Bannon High School is a legacy of the segregation era, during which wealthy white plantation-owning families traditionally sent their children to out-of-state boarding schools, while poor whites attended fully segregated public schools. [12] With the coming of federally ordered efforts at desegregation in the 1970s, parents of white students, particularly in the Mississippi Delta region, "fled en masse" from public schools to private academies, leaving the public school system in a state of ethnic and economic imbalance. [12] Even in the 21st Century public schools in the Delta region remain predominantly black, with African-American enrollments frequently ranging from 80 to nearly 100 percent — far in excess of the state average. [12]
Athletics
O'Bannon High School athletic teams are known as the "Greenwaves" and the school colors are Kelly Green, Scarlet, and White [13]
Washington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,922. Its county seat is Greenville. The county is named in honor of the first president of the United States, George Washington. It is located to the Arkansas border.
Quitman County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,176, making it the third-least populous county in Mississippi. Its county seat is Marks. The county is named after John A. Quitman, Governor of Mississippi from 1835 to 1836 and from 1850 to 1851.
Oktibbeha County is a county in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census the population was 51,788. The county seat is Starkville. The county's name is derived from a local Native American word meaning either "bloody water" or "icy creek". The Choctaw had long occupied much of this territory prior to European exploration and United States acquisition.
Leflore County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,339. The county seat is Greenwood. The county is named for Choctaw leader Greenwood LeFlore, who signed a treaty to cede his people's land to the United States in exchange for land in Indian Territory. LeFlore stayed in Mississippi, settling on land reserved for him in Tallahatchie County.
Greenville is the 9th most populous city in Mississippi. It is the county seat of Washington County. The population was 29,670 at the 2020 census. It is located in the area of historic cotton plantations and culture known as the Mississippi Delta.
Mississippi Valley State University is a public historically black university in Mississippi Valley State, Mississippi, adjacent to Itta Bena, Mississippi. MVSU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
The Western Line School District (WLSD) is a public school district based in the community of Avon, Mississippi (USA).
The Cleveland School District (CSD) is a public school district based in Cleveland, Mississippi (USA).
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The Sunflower County Consolidated School District (SCCSD), formerly the Sunflower County School District (SCSD), is a public school district with its headquarters in Indianola, Mississippi in the Mississippi Delta. The district serves all of Sunflower County.
The Quitman County School District is a public school district based in Marks, Mississippi (USA). The district's boundaries are the same as Quitman County. The District's only high school ranks 189th out of 237 High Schools in Mississippi.
A Mississippi Landmark is a building officially nominated by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and approved by each county's chancery clerk. The Mississippi Landmark designation is the highest form of recognition bestowed on properties by the state of Mississippi, and designated properties are protected from changes that may alter the property's historic character. Currently there are 890 designated landmarks in the state. Mississippi Landmarks are spread out between eighty-one of Mississippi's eighty-two counties; only Issaquena County has no such landmarks.
North Sunflower Academy is a private school, founded to provide a segregated education for white students in unincorporated Sunflower County, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta area, between Ruleville and Drew. The school has grades Kindergarten through 12. As of 2002, the school draws students from Doddsville, Drew, Merigold, Ruleville, Schlater, Tutwiler, and Webb.
The Mississippi Delta region has had the most segregated schools -- and for the longest time—of any part of the United States. As recently as the 2016–2017 school year, East Side High School in Cleveland, Mississippi, was practically all black: 359 of 360 students were African-American.
Formal education in Mississippi began in the early 19th century with private schools and academies, a public education system was founded during the Reconstruction era, by the biracial legislature led by the Republican Party. Throughout its history, Mississippi has produced notable education inequalities due to racial segregation and underfunding of black schools, as well as rural zoning and lack of commitment to funding education.
East Holmes Academy (EHA) was a segregation academy in West, Mississippi. The school was founded in 1965 and closed in 2006. In 1989, EHA received national attention after two incidents involving alleged racial discrimination.
Saints Academy was a private 1-12 school in Lexington, Mississippi, the county seat of Holmes County. Founded by the Church of God in Christ in 1918 as the Saints Industrial and Literary School, a school for black children in a segregated environment, it gradually expanded. Under principal Arenia Mallory from 1926-1977, the school added grades until it provided classes through high school. It had a national reputation for its strong academics and attracted students from outside the region, including from families who had migrated north.
The Mississippi Delta Chinese are a small community of Chinese Americans that has lived in the Mississippi Delta region since the late 19th century. A related population of Chinese Americans lives across the Mississippi River in the Arkansas Delta and the nearby city of Memphis, Tennessee.
Mississippi Highway 438 is a state highway in western Mississippi. The route starts at MS 1 in Wayside and travels eastward. The road travels through farmland and intersects U.S. Route 61 and its old alignment near Arcola. MS 438 continues eastward and ends at Sunflower River Road and Kinlock Road on the Washington–Sunflower county line near Kinlock. The route was constructed around 1950, connecting from MS 1 to US 61. The route was extended to the Washington–Sunflower county line by 1958, and to US 49W in Inverness by 1960. The section east of the county line was removed from the route by 1974.
Greenwood-Leflore Consolidated School District (GLCSD) is a school district serves Greenwood, Mississippi and the rest of Leflore County. It was established on July 1, 2019, as a merger of the Greenwood Public School District and the Leflore County School District.
