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Strider Academy was a PK-12 school in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, United States, which operated from 1971 until 2018. The school was established in 1971 as a segregation academy to allow white parents to avoid sending their children to racially integrated public schools. The school was sited on Mississippi Highway 32, about 10 miles (16 km) west of Charleston and about 8 miles (13 km) north of Tippo. The school ceased operations at the end of the 2017–18 school year.

History

Strider Academy was founded in 1971 as a segregation academy and was an accredited member of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools.

The school was said to be named after Clarence Strider, the Tallahatchie County Sheriff who obstructed the investigation of the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till in a successful attempt to acquit the murderers.

The school campus suffered two fires in two weeks in August 1977. The main building and the field house were both destroyed. The FBI was involved in the investigation.

In 1989, Greenwood public schools trustee Jeff Milman of Tippo resigned after the NAACP protested his decision to enroll his children in Strider Academy instead of racially integrated public schools. Milman stated that his children wanted to attend Strider and that it was closer to his residence.

In 1993, the school did not receive an increase in admissions from Greenwood parents; at the time white parents were concerned about a plan to put all students in the same middle school in Greenwood. By that year the school was air conditioned.

In 1999, it started an elementary school level daycare program.

As of 2016, the school's students were 96% white, but Tallahatchie County was 54% black. Filings for the 2015–16 school year indicates that all seventy-two students at the school were white. In July 2018, the school announced it would not reopen for the following school year.

References

1. ^ McFerrin, Clay (July 10, 2018). "STRIDER ACADEMY WILL NOT OPEN THIS FALL". Sun-Sentinel.
2. ^ "Private School Universe". NCES. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
3. McGee, Meredith Coleman (2013-03-21). James Meredith: Warrior and the America that Created Him. ABC-CLIO. p. 40. ISBN 9780313397400.
4. "Emmett Till Q&A | American Experience | PBS". PBS.org. PBS. Retrieved 2022-07-04.
5. Faulkner, Ken (28 August 1977). "Officials comb scene at school fire for clues". Clarksdale Press Register. p. 1.
6. "School board seeks a replacement". The Sun-Sentinel. Charleston. October 19, 1989. p. 1, 10. - See clipping of first and of second pages from Newspapers.com
7. Fava, Al (April 20, 1993). "Winona Academy a possible route of escape for students". Greenwood Commonwealth. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com. - See clipping
8. "Schools preparing for start of classes". The Charleston Sun-Sentinel. Vol. 70, no. 31. Charleston, Mississippi. 1993-08-05. p. A1. - Clipping from Newspapers.com.
9. "Local schools to resume classes". Charleston Sun-Sentinel. 1999-07-22. p. 2. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.
10. McLaughlin, Eliott (May 27, 2016). "Could Mississippi integration ruling trigger 'white flight'?". CNN. Retrieved 11 October 2016.

• Private K–12 schools in Mississippi
• Schools in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi
• Segregation academies in Mississippi
• Educational institutions established in 1971
• 1971 establishments in Mississippi
• Educational institutions disestablished in 2018
• 2018 disestablishments in Mississippi