Courtesy of the Canton-Madison County Historical Society
Canton was once home to the largest high school for Black students in Mississippi.
In 1958, Canton dedicated A.M. Rogers Senior–Junior High School, a modern campus designed to serve 1,500 students.
Nearly seventy years later, that same campus continues to educate local children as Nichols Middle School, located at 529 Mace Street in Canton.
According to the school’s online profile, Nichols Middle School currently serves approximately 388 students in grades 6–8.
Built at a cost of approximately $500,000, A. M. Rogers replaced numerous overcrowded one- and two-teacher schools throughout Madison County and represented one of the largest educational investments ever made for Black students in Mississippi during the era of legally segregated public schools.
The campus included 32 classrooms, two libraries, three science laboratories, two vocational shops, a home economics department, a cafeteria, and a combined gymnasium-auditorium with seating for approximately 2,000 people.
The school was named in honor of A. M. Rogers, who served for nearly twenty-five years as supervising principal of Canton’s Black schools.
The campus today retains much of its 1958 layout. While new entrances, walkways, parking areas, and other improvements have modernized the school over the decades, its historic footprint remains intact.
The school was built as part of Mississippi’s school equalization program, an effort to improve educational facilities for Black students while preserving segregated public education in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s desegregation rulings.
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