Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: Oktibbeha County School Composites (Z/2403).
Creator/Collector: Education Association of East Oktibbeha County Schools.
Date(s): 1953-2015.
Size: Size Size cubic feet.
Language(s): English.
Processed by: MDAH staff, Laura Heller, 2024.
Provenance: Gift of Jacqueline Ellis on behalf of Education Association of East Oktibbeha County Schools of Starkville, Mississippi, on October 20, 2023; Z/U/2023.051.
Repository: Archives & Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

Rights and Access:

Access restrictions: Collection is open for research, however, curator permission is necessary due to oversized images and the presence of mold. The collection is in process.

Publication rights: Copyright assigned to the MDAH. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to Reference Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the MDAH as the owner of the physical items and as the owner of the copyright in items created by the donor. Although the copyright was transferred by the donor, the respective creator may still hold copyright in some items in the collection. For further information, contact Reference Services.

Copyright notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).

Preferred citation: Oktibbeha County School Composites (Z/2403), Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

 

History:

Rock Hill High School

Rock Hill High School, along with Pleasant Grove Community School, was consolidated into B.L. Moor High School around 1960.

Pleasant Grove Community School

Pleasant Grove Community School, along with Rock Hill High School, was consolidated into B.L. Moor High School around 1960.

B.L. Moor High School

B.L. Moor High School was a historically African-American, public secondary school near Starkville in Oktoc, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi.  Moor was founded in 1960 as a segregated all-black school, with roots in the earlier Pleasant Grove Community School.  By 1997 and 1998, the school district was being considered for consolidation. This would merge the two schools west of Starkville, Maben and Sturgis, into the Starkville School District, while creating a new school district for the mostly African American schools (Alexander and Moor) on the east side of Starkville.  After a fire burned the B.L. Moor High School in 2002, it was merged with Alexander High School and renamed East Oktibbeha County High School.

East Oktibbeha County High School and West Oktibbeha County High School

Through a Mississippi congressional enactment in 2013, it became law that the Oktibbeha County School District (including East Oktibbeha County High School and West Oktibbeha County High School) would officially close on June 30, 2015, and would merge to become the Starkville-Oktibbeha County Consolidated School District.  By 2016, the school site was abandoned.  In 2023, the school was repurposed into a wedding venue called The Hill and Moor, and a boutique motel called The Tangerine. 

 

Scope and Content Note:

This collection consists of 51 composite photographs for five historically African-American high schools in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi.  These schools include Rock Hill High School (1953-1959); Pleasant Grove High School (1953-1959); B.L. Moor High School (1963-2001, some years missing); East Oktibbeha County High School (2004-2011; 2014-2015); and West Oktibbeha County High School (2004-2015).

 

Series Identification:

Each series contains the composites of that school.  They are listed with the years for which the collection has a composite of the senior class. At a later date, inventories of students' names in each composite will be included in this finding aid.

Series 1: Rock Hill High School.
1953
1954
1958
1959

Series 2: Pleasant Grove High School.
1953
1954
1958
1959

Series 3: B.L. Moor High School.
1963
1964
1969
1970
1973
1974
1976
1977 
1978
1979
1982 
1983
1984
1988
1991
1992
1993
1995
1997
1998
2001

Series 4: East Oktibbeha County High School.
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2014
2015

Series 5: West Oktibbeha County High School.
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015

 

Box List:

Box 1
Box List to be completed at a later date.