The First Integrated Prom in Wilcox, Georgia Is Tonight!

60 years after Brown v. Board of Education desegregated the American school system, white and black students in rural Wilcox, Georgia still had separate proms. This year, an interracial group of best friends who wanted nothing more than to wear corsages, eat crappy steak and take awkwardly-angled pictures together organized their own open-door prom, welcome to all. And it’s tonight! Be safe! Don’t drink and drive! Use condoms!

After their Facebook group acquired 24,000 fans and enough money to rent a ballroom for the night, almost half of the 380 students at the school have registered to attend. Many of the typical prom requirements—DJ, photographers, etc—are being fulfilled for free. The school’s superintendent Steven Smith agrees that the segregated proms are “an embarassment” and hopes to soon be able to refer to only one prom as “the prom.” Accordingly, Wilcox High

That’s not to say the segregated proms don’t still have their supporters:

White residents said members of the two races had different tastes in music and dancing, and different traditions: the junior class plans the white prom, and the senior class plans the black prom.

Really? Last I checked, Justin Timberlake and grinding up on your classmates was the great equalizer, but whatever. Parents who helped organize the white proms declined to comment.