I was reading Justine Larbalestier’s post about segregated proms in Montgomery County Georgia. I remember an article about segregated proms in another Georgia town a few years ago. It even inspired the Lifetime movie For One Night starring Raven-Symone.
For me, it sparked a story idea but I thought it would be historical fiction because surely by the time I wrote the novel, high schools in Georgia would not be having segregated proms. How wrong I was.
Montgomery County High School is profiled in the NY Times article, A Prom Divided. Several seniors (there are only 54 of them—that’s how small this town is) discuss how they do everything else together but don’t go to the prom because it’s a “tradition.” Mostly embraced by the white parents. The black prom is open to everyone. The white prom—let’s just say you need an invitation.
But this school isn’t the only one. Several high schools in the South have segregated proms, which stemmed from integration in the 1970’s. There’s even an HBO documentary, Prom Night in Mississippi, airing in July.
Almost 40 years later and this prom “tradition” continues.
It just makes me wonder. Do these teens really want to have one prom? Do the parents really have that much power?
For me, it brings up a lot of questions: How does a teen buck a tradition that they think is wrong? What must teens do to take a stand? What kind of courage (if any) would it take for a teen to tell his/her parents, “I don’t like this. I don’t want to do it anymore.”
These are the kinds of questions that first sparked my story idea for the “historical fiction” novel. You can even take out the segregated prom and use something else. When does a teen realize that their world view is different than their parents and/or family? That teen will be at a crossroads: Do I continue with what has always been done or do I break the cycle and change it?
For the teens in Montgomery County, these questions may have popped into their heads as they dressed up to go their separate proms. At least I hope so.
This is really an interesting post. You said, “How does a teen buck a tradition that they think is wrong?” What if the teen doesn’t think it’s wrong? Teens today are very outspoken and self-directed. I can’t imagine that all of them agree with them, but probably an overwhelming majority. I don’t know, it’s just my two cents