*This date in 1909 celebrates the founding of Piney Woods Country Life School. Also referred to as The Piney Woods School, it is a co-educational independent historically Black boarding school for grades 9-12.
Located in Piney Woods, unincorporated Rankin County, Mississippi, 21 miles south of Jackson, it is one of four remaining historically Black boarding schools in the United States. It is currently the largest Black boarding school and the second oldest continually operating in America.
Laurence C. Jones founded the Piney Woods School. He added the Mississippi School of the Blind for Negroes in the early 1920s, and in 1929, with the arrival of Martha Louise Morrow Foxx serving as principal. The Mississippi Blind School for Negroes eventually moved to an urban location in Jackson, Mississippi.
Piney Woods is also where Jones formed the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. Jones presided over the school for more than 60 years until 1974, when Dr. James S. Wade became the second president. Charles Beady led the school for more than 20 years, and today, the school is presided over by Dr. Reginald T.W. Nichols. Various speakers have spoken at the school, including George Washington Carver, LeRoy T. Walker, and Mike Espy. Wynton Marsalis played a benefit performance for the school in 1994. Morley Safer reported on the school in 1992 and again in 2005 for the CBS television show 60 Minutes.
