Update: The Wilcox Kids Are Getting Their (Integrated) Prom.

Some of you will remember me mentioning the time traveling racism alive in Wilcox County, Georgia where the community still organized separate black and white proms.

Well, good news. Only a few dozen students turned out for the Whites Only prom. And those four students I referenced who called their school’s tradition “embarrassing”? They (and many donors who came to their aid thanks to media coverage) managed to pull together the first racially integrated prom in school history, which half the school has registered to attend.

Their Facebook group has 24,000 fans, and it has raised enough in donations to rent a ballroom and buy food and gift bags for every couple.

Disc jockeys from Texas and Atlanta volunteered to play music, a motivational speaker from Florida is delivering a speech, and photographers from New York and Savannah are taking pictures, all without cost. In response, the Wilcox County school board plans to vote this spring on making future proms official school events, which would prohibit racial segregation.

The superintendent, Mr.Smith, is now saying, ““I don’t even like to say ‘integrated’ prom. I hope we’ll be announcing soon that there’s just one prom. The prom.”

Glad to hear 2013 caught up with them after all.