Ebony and ivory

Though some people point out that state-mandated slavery came to an end with the surrender of the Confederacy in 1865 or that the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s put a stop to most of the country's Jim Crow laws, race is an issue that is integral to the American experience -- and not just for the purposes of academic and historical study.

In Georgia, for example, there is a high school that, up until this year, held separate proms for white and black students. That finally changed yesterday -- in 2007! Congratulations to the students at Turner County High School.