Shirley Holmes Sims

Shirley Holmes Sims

In May 1963, Shirley Holmes Sims, a student at Parker High School, marched for justice in the Children’s Crusade in Birmingham, Alabama. Due to the unrest of that spring, Parker High canceled its prom that year. Fifty years later, in May 2013, the students who missed that prom threw their own Historic Prom. Ms. Holmes-Sims studied juvenile justice at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and served as a juvenile detention officer at Jefferson County Youth Detention Center.

Waiting 50 years for “Prom we never had”

1963 was pure hell for me beginning in January.  We were human; however, we were not treated as such.  Things were totally different. There was a separation of Black people and White people at this time.  By this time things began to change in our city and it was really sad to know that you were thought of as nothing but an unacceptable person.  You could not sit beside a White person on the bus and you couldn’t sit and dine with them either.  We could not go to the better movie theaters nor could we try on clothing that we attempted to purchase.

By this time in my heart I knew it was time for a change. My only thought was, when, where, and how.