Alabama principal's interracial dating comments result in protest prom

Jet, May 9, 1994

About 20 couples from Randolph County High School in Wedowee, AL, skipped the school's long awaited, much publicized prom, and attended a protest prom held at a site about 13 miles away from the school.

Sponsored by the NAACP and the SCLC, the protest prom was the latest in a series of efforts by Black residents in the town to show their overwhelming disapproval of the School Board's decision to reinstate Hulond Humphries, the school's principal (JET, April 18).

Humphries was suspended with pay in March after a 16-year-old mixed-raced student said he told her parents "had made a mistake" by having her. The principal has been accused of threatening to cancel the prom if interracial couples attended because he "didn't want anyone else to make the same mistake," the student, ReVonda Bowen, has quoted him as saying.

Bowen made an appearance at the regular school prom and also attended the protest prom. She was escorted by her White boyfriend, Chris Brown.

Shortly after the school board voted 4-2 to reinstate Humphries, hundreds of students of all ages boycotted the county schools and attended "freedom schools" set up at local churches.

Sherry Knight, a resident who helped organize the boycott and protest prom, told the Associated Press that the demonstrations will continue.

"We won't stop until some type of disciplinary action is taken against Hulond Humphries," she said.

At JET press time, community leaders had planned a downtown march for April 30, to protest Humphries' reinstatement. In addition, the SCLC is planning a national march for May 21.