TAYLOR, Miss. (AP) — The site of a Mississippi elementary school that served black children during segregation is set to become a park.
The Oxford Eagle reports the plans for the park at the site of Weems Elementary were approved Monday by the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors. The supervisors approved demolition of the school in May 2018 after a fire damaged most of the structure. The newspaper says the fire is believed to have been started by someone trying to escape the cold.
A $1-per-year lease was approved with the newly-formed nonprofit group Taylor Park Recreation, which will raise money for park construction. Throughout the 1960s, Weems taught black students between first and eighth grades. The state’s public schools were officially integrated in 1970, leading many such schools to shutter.