Jackson Academy is a private school in
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...
founded by Loyal M. Bearrs in 1959. Bearss claimed he established the school to teach using an accelerated phonics program he developed, but the school remained completely racially segregated until 1986, including foregoing tax exemption in 1970 to avoid accepting Black students.
Today, the school enrolls nearly 1200 students in grades K3 through 12, and is one of the largest independent schools in Mississippi.
History
In 1959, Loyal Bearss and ten families founded Jackson Academy, with the mission to teach children reading through the use of Bearss' phonics method, Beginning Phonics, developed while Bearss was working as a director of the speech and hearing clinic at
University of Southern Mississippi
The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...
, and as a faculty member at
Millsaps College
Millsaps College is a private liberal arts college in Jackson, Mississippi. It was founded in 1890 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.
History
The college was founded in 1889–90 by a Confederate veteran, Major Reuben Webster M ...
.
By November 1960, JA was a private school corporation, jointly owned by the parents of its 49 students, and supervised by a board of directors elected from those parents.
The school served
kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...
(then called primer) and first through fifth grade.
In 2008, JA started working towards becoming an Apple one-to-one environment.
In 2014, the school was selected as an Apple Distinguished School, and maintains a 100% Apple Teacher certification, while providing all students in K5 through 12th grade with Apple devices for digital learning.
The academy's board of trustees established the James Peter Jernberg, Jr. Scholars program in 2014.
The scholarship provides up to full tuition and fees for several students a year, and is named for President Emeritus Peter Jernberg, who led the school from 1988 to 2014.
Racial segregation
For the 1965–1966 school year, 41% of Jackson Academy's tuition revenue came from grants provided by the state of Mississippi. In 1969, in ''
Coffey v. State Educational Finance Commission
''Coffey v. State Educational Finance Commission'' (1969) was a federal case that addressed state support of segregation academies in Mississippi. More broadly, it established the standards the Internal Revenue Service would use to determine the t ...
'', the
ruled that, since, in the court's opinion, Jackson Academy would refuse to admit qualified Black students, the tuition grant program violated the
equal protection clause
The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal ...
of the
fourteenth amendment.
Jackson Academy's enrollment tripled in 1970 when the Supreme Court, in ''
Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education
''Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education'', 396 U.S. 19 (1969), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ordered immediate desegregation of public schools in the American South. It followed 15 years of delays to integrate ...
'', ordered
Jackson public schools
The Jackson Public School District (JPSD) or Jackson Public Schools (JPS) is a public school district serving the majority of Jackson, the state capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. Established in 1888, it is the second lar ...
to desegregate.
Because the school did not have a race blind admissions policy, the
IRS
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...
revoked their tax exempt status.
In 1973, the FCC was asked to revoke
WLBT
WLBT (channel 3) is a television station in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Television, which also operates American Spirit Media–owned Fox affiliate WDBD (channel 40) and Vicksburg-licensed MyNet ...
's broadcasting license because the station's largest shareholder, William Mounger, also served as a Jackson Academy Vice President.
The FCC filing stated that, since Mounger was affiliated with an institution that practiced racial segregation, he was not fit to hold a broadcasting license.
In 1974, the FCC rejected the complaint as untimely since the evidence of Mounger's association with the school and the school's discriminatory practices was available from at least 1969.
In April 1979, Jackson Academy's campus was damaged in the
Jackson Easter flood. The school resumed classes in temporary facilities provided by local churches. Jackson Academy vacated the churches after a civil rights attorney filed a lawsuit to revoke the churches' tax exempt status since the churches were aiding a racially segregated school. The attorney who filed the IRS complaint,
Frank Parker, recalled that he received so many threats of violence that he had to leave Mississippi for several weeks.
As of 1982, no African-Americans had ever applied to or attended Jackson Academy. The headmaster at the time, Glenn Cain, explained "People of like kind educate better together."
In 1986 Jackson Academy became the first
segregation academy
Segregation academies are private schools in the Southern United States that were founded in the mid-20th century by white parents to avoid having their children attend desegregated public schools. They were founded between 1954, when the U.S. ...
in the Jackson area to enroll black students.
Cain was succeeded by Jernberg as headmaster in 1988.
In 2001, Jackson Academy had its first black graduate.
As of 2009, the school was over 98% white, whereas Jackson city schools were 97.6% black.
In the 2017–18 school year, Jackson Academy had 1,183 students. Not including pre-K, the students were 85% white, 13.4% black, and 1% Asian, with the remaining percentage split between Hispanic students and students of two or more races.
Affiliations
Jackson Academy is accredited by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Jackson Academy is part of the
Midsouth Association of Independent Schools The Midsouth Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) is a consortium of schools in Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana and Arkansas. It is responsible for accreditation of its member private schools as well as governing athletic competition for its ...
(MAIS), a consortium of schools in Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana and Arkansas that governs athletic competition for its member schools. Previously named the Mississippi Private School Association (MPSA), the organization was initially founded in 1968 as an accrediting agency for
segregation academies
Segregation academies are private schools in the Southern United States that were founded in the mid-20th century by white parents to avoid having their children attend desegregated public schools. They were founded between 1954, when the U.S. ...
. In 2019, the organization became the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools, then the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools.
They are also a member of District V of
Cum Laude Society
The Cum Laude Society is an organization that honors scholastic achievement at secondary institutions, similar to the Phi Beta Kappa Society, which honors scholastic achievements at the university level. It was founded at The Tome School in 19 ...
, one of four Mississippi schools with the chapter designation.
Performing arts
In 2010, Jackson Academy opened an 800-seat performing arts center.
Jackson Academy has two competitive
show choirs
A show choir (originally known as a "swing choir") is a musical ensemble that combines choral singing with choreographed dance, often with an overarching theme. It is most relevant in the Midwestern United States and was popularized by the America ...
, the high school-aged group "Encore" and the middle school-aged group "Showtime". The program hosts an annual competition.
Athletics
In 1988, Jackson Academy's football team's road game against
San Marino High School
San Marino High School (SMHS) is a public high school in San Marino, California, United States, and the only high school in the San Marino Unified School District, Los Angeles County. According to the 2015 California Academic Performance Index S ...
was referred to as the "porcelain bowl" because of both school's overwhelmingly white student population.
In 1989, a retired NFL player,
Glenn Collins, was the
color commentator
A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and t ...
for Jackson Academy football radio broadcasts. Collins, who is black, was instructed by Jackson Academy athletic director Bobby West not to attend the game to be played at
East Holmes Academy
East Holmes Academy (EHA) was a segregation academy in West, Mississippi. The school was founded in 1965 and closed in 2006. In 1989, EHA received national attention after two incidents involving alleged racial discrimination.
History
Foundin ...
on account of his race. When he was later interviewed about his action, West attempted to cast blame onto a supposed third party whom he refused to name, explaining that he had "passed along the information given" to him, disclosing neither the source nor substance of any such "information."
Jackson Academy currently fields 23 athletics teams, 10 male and 13 female. JA's football team, which competes in the
Midsouth Association of Independent Schools The Midsouth Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) is a consortium of schools in Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana and Arkansas. It is responsible for accreditation of its member private schools as well as governing athletic competition for its ...
, won nine MAIS titles from 1995 to 2016.
The girls' volleyball team has won six titles since 2014 (including back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2020), and has played in every MAIS championship match since 2012.
In 2018, girls' basketball coach Jan Sojourner celebrated her 900th win. In her 36 seasons at Jackson Academy, Sojourner has coached her teams to 22 championships, including six MAIS titles.
Alumni
*
Brunson Green, film producer and
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
nominee for the movie ''
The Help
''The Help'' is a historical fiction novel by American author Kathryn Stockett and published by Penguin Books in 2009. The story is about African Americans working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi, during the early 1960s.
A ''USA To ...
''.
*
Dr. Calvin Thigpen, physician and
oncologist
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...
References
{{authority control
Educational institutions established in 1959
Schools in Jackson, Mississippi
Private K-12 schools in Mississippi
Preparatory schools in Mississippi
Private schools in the Jackson metropolitan area, Mississippi
Segregation academies in Mississippi
1959 establishments in Mississippi