Pearl River Community College

Pearl River County Agricultural High School (PRCAHS) was the result of the Mississippi Agricultural High School Law of 1908, making it the nation's first state-funded system of agricultural high schools.

The law was found to be in violation of the separate but equal clause in the state's constitution by the state's Supreme Court late in 1909 when no equal opportunity was offered for the state's African-American children.

The overturned law caused all but three of the twenty original agricultural high schools in the state to close, since state funding was no longer available.

Pearl River County citizens came to the school's rescue, however, when private citizens secured a loan from a local bank to fund the school until the Mississippi Legislature could pass a new law which made opportunity for both races.