( CNN ) -- Last week , for the first time in decades , students from Wilcox County , Georgia , attended a school-sponsored prom that was open to all students rather than a private , racially segregated prom . For decades , Wilcox County High School had n't hosted a prom for its 400 students . Instead , parents and their children organized private , off-site , racially segregated parties known to most as `` white prom '' and `` black prom . '' After students planned their own integrated dance last year , school leaders announced they would sponsor the school 's first prom -- and it would be open to everyone . `` Everything went off without a hitch , '' Wilcox County schools Superintendent Steve Smith said this week -- just as he expected . The last official school proms were held in Wilcox County decades ago , before schools were racially integrated , community members said . Wilcox County and many other schools in the Deep South canceled proms and homecoming dances in the early years of integration , and in some places , private , segregated proms became the local tradition . ( The school has long hosted Junior Reserve Officers ' Training Corps balls , which were racially integrated and open to all JROTC members . ) In 2013 , a group of Wilcox County students organized an integrated prom open to white , black , Latino and Asian students . Organizers , both black and white , faced backlash from some community members who disliked the change -- or the crush of media attention it brought . The event made Wilcox County the butt of late-night TV jokes , but also drew thousands of supporters on social media , plus donated cash , dresses and DJ services . Wilcox County is not the only place with a history of racially segregated proms . In the 2009 documentary `` Prom Night in Mississippi , '' director Paul Saltzman followed the preparations for the first integrated prom in Charleston , Mississippi . Actor Morgan Freeman , a native of the area , offered in 1997 to cover the cost if the school board would hold an integrated prom , but the offer was n't accepted till 2008 . Last year , many community members said they 'd support an integrated prom , or a school-sponsored prom -- it 's just that old traditions are tough to change . Last year , it took a group of students , attention on social media and the support of the NAACP , parents and community members to make it happen . `` If we 're all together and we love each other the way we say we do , then there are no issues , '' Wilcox County graduate Mareshia Rucker said last year after helping to organize the student-led integrated prom . `` This is something that should have happened a long time ago . ''
The high school in Wilcox County , Georgia , held its first event in late March . Previously , proms were private , white- and black - only events organized by parents . In 2013 , Wilcox County students organized a private black prom . Superintendent : ` ` Everything goes off without a hitch ''