The Wildcat 1956 Revisited: Speight Elementary & High School 1956 Yearbook is a glimpse into the life of African American students in rural Georgia during the 1955-56 school year. It is the reproduction of the Asbury Speight & Elementary High School’s one and only yearbook. While the education was segregated, one would be hard pressed to deem it “inferior”. In point of fact, the rate of African American students attending college was greater during this era than it is at the time of this writing. This volume, in all of the simplicity of mid 1950’s photography, captures the culture of high expectations promulgated during the era of segregation.
Lawrence J. Hanks is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Indiana University. He earned his BA in Political Science from Morehouse College. He earned his MA and Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University. Hanks attended Asbury Speight Elementary and High School until his junior year in1970 when the name changed to “Clay County High School”. Dr. Hanks writes and speaks widely on subjects ranging from self-help and personal empowerment to political thought and the role on race in contemporary American society. For more information visit www.lawrencehanks.com.