From Segregation To Integration: A Historical Study Of Music Education In The Colored School In Louisville, Mississippi Through 1970

What was music like, if it existed, in black schools before integration, and what happened to black music educators after integration? To properly address this, the history of segregation, major court rulings and other noteworthy attempts at integration, must be mentioned. This study reveals the untold history of the music department of Louisville Colored School in Louisville, Mississippi. This study will open the door for further, in-depth dialogue on the subject of music education in black schools before integration. Five years before the 1970 integration of public schools in Louisville, MS, Louisville Colored School, sometimes referred to as Camile Street High School, did have instrumental, choral, and elementary music programs. Like many records of black schools in the South, much information about Louisville Colored School was lost, thrown out, or burned intentionally. In viewing other city documents, however, I found that Mr. L. C. Eiland was the school's principal for thirty- five years, until his death in 1969, and under his supervision music was always taught in some capacity. In interviews, Mrs. Rosa Armstrong Prince, Choir Director from1963-1970, and Mr. Amel "Joe Frank" Eiland, Head Band Director and Music Area Coordinator, offer insight into the music programs at Louisville Colored School leading up to integration and their roles as a black music educators before and after integration. Mrs. Lula Wade (ca.1910-2006) was the Elementary Music teacher. Some sixteen years after the Brown v. Board and Brown II court rulings all public schools in Winston County, MS integrated during the 1970-1971 school year, merging Louisville High School (the white school) and Louisville Colored School. In tandem with related literature, this historical study presents two accounts of music education in a black school pre-integration.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.M. in Music

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Music

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Thompson, Jeremy S.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Alan L. Spurgeon
• Michael Gardiner
• Andrew Paney

• 1970
• African American
• Black Schools
• Integration
• Mississippi
• Music Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/708

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:egrove.olemiss.edu:etd-1707