Our beginnings will never be forgotten.

Two Schools. One Historic Journey.

We began together in neighborhood schools, built lifelong friendships through elementary and junior high, and then lived through one of the most significant moments in Natchez history the integration of our public schools. Although our senior class graduated from two high schools, we have always considered ourselves one class.

The Soundtrack of Our Shared Journey

Press play … and enjoy the soundtrack of our shared journey.

Every generation has a soundtrack. The music of the late 1960s and 1970s wasn’t simply what we listened to, it became the background music of our lives. As you explore our story, enjoy this collection of timeless classics that helped define our generation.

Tap any track to open it in Spotify search — Motown, soul, funk, blues, and jazz.

Chapter One

Where Our Journey Began

Long before reunions or scholarships, these were the classrooms and playgrounds where the earliest friendships of the Class of 1971 took root:

• Prince Street School

• Susie B. West

• Brumfield Elementary

• Central Elementary

• Northside School (later renamed Joseph L. Frazier Elementary)

• Natchez College School

• An airport-area neighborhood school

Prince Street School was built by the Carpenter family in 1913 and donated to the city of Natchez for the educational needs of Black students in the district. It stood at the heart of the Historic Woodlawn District listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the second-largest area in Natchez built for Black citizens, financed by Black banker Louis Winston, with more than 500 structures, over 200 of them individually recognized for their historical value.

Woodlawn held the boyhood home of writer Richard Wright and the historic King Solomon Baptist Church, where some classmates had their first Christian experience. No one forgets the White House Burger, or a visit to one of the neighborhood’s mom-and-pop stores. This was home before it was history.

Weekend nights had their own geography too: Danny’s Lounge across the river, Smooth’s Cafe, the clubs out Liberty Road, and the Psychedelic Shack — owned by several brothers, one of them a classmate.

Northside Elementary was later renamed for Joseph L. Frazier, one of the most respected educators in the Natchez-Adams School District — a principal who students remember as building them “from top to bottom,” a father figure to many, and a guide through the era’s biggest questions.

Anchorage Junior High is where students from across those neighborhood schools became one group of friends — the class that would go on to share everything that followed.

Chapter Two

Sadie V. Thompson, and the Year Everything Changed

One of the most unique aspects of our class is that many classmates received Sadie V. Thompson High School class rings, even though our diplomas would later come from different schools. That ring became a symbol of a chapter of shared history that still connects us today.

In our senior year, integration reorganized the schools of Natchez, reassignment, busing, and new boundary lines placed classmates at either North Natchez High School or South Natchez High School. It’s a significant moment in local history, and the Class of 1971 holds a unique place within it: the first graduating classes of both new schools.

Two ceremonies, two diplomas, one class.

Graduation photographs, programs, senior portraits, and newspaper coverage from that spring are still being gathered for this page if you have one tucked away, this is where it belongs.

The Senior Directories

Two directories, one class.

Every senior in these directories started the same way in the halls of Sadie V. Thompson High School, the school that gave this class its first rings and its first yearbook. When Natchez integrated its schools in 1970, that single senior class was divided by a boundary line into North Natchez and South Natchez for the year they graduated.

North Natchez

Senior Directory, Anderson through West

Transcribed directly from thirteen photographed yearbook pages, organized alphabetically. Cross-referencing this roster surfaced 44 In Memoriam flags, 36 confirmed exact-name matches and 8 likely matches on a spelling or maiden-name variant.

South Natchez

Senior Directory, 77 seniors, circled in blue pen

Transcribed from the committee’s marked-up copy. 73 are confirmed; 2 more are circled on the most worn page (“’71 is the year”) but too faded to read with confidence. 20 classmates are now flagged In Memoriam.

Not Pictured

Walter Bates · Robert Lee Buchanan · Catherine Cameron Bull · Susan Carman · William Allen Case · Carolyn Chatman (In Memoriam) · Katherine Dickerson · Mamie Lee Galmore · Randolph Green · Linda Susan Harris · Ernest Wayne Hutto · Henry Louis Jackson · Alex King (In Memoriam) · Julius May · Julia Wanda Mitchell (In Memoriam) · Mary Ann Mitchell · Patricia Mitchell · Deborah Sue Nelson · Henry Patterson · Lois Ann Penny · Nancy Lynn Smith · Robert Smith · Joan Thomas (In Memoriam) · Margaret Conner Trimble · Henry Wade Wheat · James Richard Wilcher

    • Diana Anderson

    • Warren Anderson

    • Dorothy Armstrong

    • Mary Ashley †

    • Jerry Baldwin

    • Chester Barnes

    • Katie Bland †

    • Nellie Bradford

    • Henry (Harry) Brooks †

    • John Bruce

    • Joyce Buckner

    • Audrey Cage †

    • Katherine Cain

    • Patricia Calhoun

    • Jacqueline Campbell

    • Ann Carter

    • Jacqueline Chatman

    • Joan Chatman

    • Deloris Claiborne

    • Shirley Clay

    • Will Credit

    • W. C. Curits

    • Dan Davis

    • Janice Davis †

    • Laura Davis †

    • Minelli Davis

    • Nolan Davis

    • Sue Ann Davis

    • Bobby Dennis

    • Eric Dery

    • Rosetta Dixon

    • Joanette Drake

    • Beverly Duck

    • Charlie Dukes

    • James Dunbar

    • Karl Dunmore

    • Ronald Dunmore †

    • Johnny Elery

    • Patricia Ellis (Betty Crocker Award)

    • Wynetta Evans

    • Betty Fitzgerald

    • Alvin Flemming

    • Carlton Flemming †

    • Fred Ford †

    • Adell Gaylor

    • Walter Gaylor

    • Clyde Gooseberry

    • Regina Graves

    • Henry Gray †

    • Annetta Green

    • Bessie Green

    • Diana Green

    • Gregory Green

    • Jana Green

    • Karen Green

    • Margaret Green (Miss N-NAHS)

    • Walter Griffin

    • Lorraine Guiser

    • Deloris Hardin

    • Marilyn Hardin

    • Brenda Harris

    • Charles Harris †

    • Denise Harris

    • Georgia Harris †

    • Gertude Harris †

    • Leonard Harris

    • Linda Harris

    • Robert Harris

    • Vernon Harris

    • Annie Hawkins

    • Forestine Haynes

    • Michele Henderson

    • Melvin Henderson

    • Roosevelt Hendricks †

    • Ronnie Hendix

    • Gwen Hickmobottom

    • Leo Hunt

    • Mary Hunter †

    • Everlean Irving †

    • Glenda Jackson †

    • Joanetta Jackson

    • John Jackson †

    • Patricia Jackson

    • Zeola Jackson

    • Deborah Jenkins

    • Margie Joffrion

    • Albert Johnson

    • Alletia Johnson

    • Arthur Johnson

    • Audrey Johnson

    • Betty Johnson †

    • Carolyn Johnson

    • Earnest Johnson †

    • Lewis Johnson †

    • Lucy Johnson (Class's First Miss Afro)

    • Napoleon Johnson †

    • Clarence Jones

    • Linda Jones

    • Edward King

    • Velma Latham

    • Brenda Lewis †

    • Cynthia Lewis

    • Jacqueline Lewis

    • Linda Lewis †

    • Violet Logan

    • Robert Long

    • Tony Lucas

    • Acquanette Luster

    • Laverne Luster

    • Micheal Mackel

    • Gregory Marsaw

    • John Marshall †

    • Debra Martin †

    • Ed Martin †

    • Olivia Mayberry

    • Rodney Mayberry

    • Gale Mazique

    • Charlotte McClain

    • Edgar McClain

    • James McCoy

    • Walter McDaniel

    • Betty McDonald

    • Geraldine McDonald

    • Mary McFarland

    • Lillian McGrew

    • Daisy Mae McNeal †

    • Francis Minor †

    • Johnny Minor †

    • Milton Minor

    • Carol Mitchell

    • Marguerite Moore

    • Aretha Morris

    • John Murphy †

    • Nathaniel Murray †

    • Ella Myles

    • Jean Newman

    • Harvey Owens †

    • Willie Ozon

    • Addie Paxton

    • Dwain Perkins

    • Herman Polk

    • Diane Prater †

    • Lynette Pollard

    • Vickie Proby

    • Cordell Ransom

    • Pamela Rawling

    • Evelyn Redd †

    • Charlie Rice

    • Cleothia Rice †

    • Princess Rice †

    • Arthur Richardson

    • Mattie Robinson

    • Ronnie Robinson

    • Chester Rogers †

    • Leon Ross

    • Evans Rucker

    • Carol Sanders

    • Linda Scott

    • Idell Screws †

    • Priscilla Screws †

    • Christine Sewell

    • Walter Sewell

    • Shirley Shannon

    • Evelyn Simpson †

    • Barbara Smith

    • James Smith

    • Robert Smoot

    • Maudra Spears

    • Aretha Stanton

    • Kenneth Stanton

    • Brenda Stewart

    • Willie Sweazy †

    • Kenneth Taylor

    • James Thomas

    • James Thompson

    • Mary Thompson

    • Patricia Thompson

    • Sylvester Tillman

    • Gary Wallace

    • Barbara Wansley †

    • Betty Washington †

    • Claudia Washington

    • Theodore Washington †

    • Brenda West

    † denotes classmates flagged In Memoriam. Transcribed from yearbook pages.

    • Gloria Mae Bass

    • Warren Lyle Bell †

    • Bobby Ray Bonds

    • Spencer Lee Bradley

    • Joseph Nathaniel Brooks †

    • Joseph Brown

    • Irving Bullet

    • Catherine Louise Cain

    • Ella Lee Clark

    • Donnie Ray Covington

    • Freddie Davis

    • Rosie Lee Davis

    • Emanuel Dennis

    • Albert Dobbins III †

    • Marie Dobbins

    • Carl Max Ealey

    • Larry Easton †

    • Bertha Jean Fleming

    • Patricia Fleming †

    • David Edgar Ford

    • Mary Lee Galmore †

    • Mattie Galmore

    • Deloris Green †

    • Peggie Rose Green

    • Robert Lee Hargrave †

    • Edwin Holmes †

    • Dale Arlene Hughes

    • Francis Hutchins

    • James Lee Jackson

    • Mary Lee Jackson

    • Rhonda Marie James †

    • Celestine Johnson

    • Doris Johnson

    • Helen Louise Jones †

    • James Frank Jones

    • Joseph Jones †

    • Greta Mae Lewis †

    • Hattie Ellen Matthews †

    • Kenneth Matthews

    • Henry Lee Mayberry

    • Rosena Mayberry

    • Williametter McGee

    • Julia Lee McNeil

    • Leon McShane

    • James Minor, Jr. †

    • Leonard Will Minor

    • Jessie Lee Myles

    • Joseph Myles

    • Billy Nichols †

    • Jennie Ruth Pettis

    • Freddie Pinder

    • Richard Pinder †

    • DeWayne Proby †

    • Thomas King Robb

    • Leroy Rowan †

    • Milton Earl Singleton

    • Maxine Smith †

    • Leonard Thomas †

    • Linda Thompson

    • Charles Washington †

    • Edward Washington †

    • Glenda Marie Washington

    • Lynell Washington

    • Shirley Washington

    • Elsie Rensa Weir

    • Terry Wells

    • Margie Jean Williams

    • Shirley Jean Williams

    • Zandra Ray Williams

    • Brenda Denese Wimley †

    • Patricia Woods

    † denotes classmates flagged In Memoriam. Transcribed from the committee’s marked-up copy.


Symbols of Our Class

Small things that still mean something fifty-five years later.

North Natchez

Rams · Green & Gold

South Natchez

Colonels · Royal Blue & White

North Natchez

Rams · Green & Gold

South Natchez

Colonels · Royal Blue & White

Illustrative photographs of Natchez are used throughout the website to celebrate our hometown while classmates continue sharing historical images from personal collections.

Our Community’s Legacy

The Place That Shaped Us

Our story began in Natchez, Mississippi a city with a rich and complex history that continues to be explored and preserved. As classmates from North and South Natchez High Schools, our lives were shaped by a community whose cultural legacy extends far beyond our school years.

We invite visitors to learn more about Natchez’s African American heritage through the city’s museums, historic sites, and cultural initiatives that honor the resilience, achievements, and contributions of generations who came before us.

Historical Timeline

“Our schools gave us our education. Our shared experiences gave us our identity. Our reunions, service, and lifelong friendships became our legacy.”