Editing Prentiss, Mississippi (section)

==History==
Originally part of [[Lawrence County, Mississippi|Lawrence County]], the town was first named "Blountville", after William Blount, an early settler and merchant.<ref name="MGHN">{{cite web | title = About Jefferson Davis County | publisher = Mississippi Genealogy & History Network | url = http://jeffdavis.msghn.org/ | access-date =January 1, 2014}}</ref> Blountville High School was established in 1885 on {{convert|10|acre|ha|abbr=on}} of land.<ref>{{cite book | title = Biennial Report of the State Superintendent of Public Education to the Legislature of Mississippi for the Years 1888 and 1889 | publisher = Mississippi State Department of Education | year = 1890 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=J1ZOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR1}}</ref> A depot was established in Blountville when the Pearl & Leaf Rivers Railroad (later [[Illinois Central Railroad]]) was completed in 1903. That same year the town was officially established and named "Prentiss", after Prentiss Webb Berry, a prominent landowner in the area.

When Jefferson Davis County was created in 1906, a special election determined that Prentiss would serve as the county seat.<ref name="MGHN"/><ref>{{cite web | title = Stations and Structures on Current and Former Railroad Lines in Mississippi | website=Icrr.net | date = January 11, 2013 | url = http://www.icrr.net/stations7.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1 = Kane | first1 = Joseph Nathan | last2 =  Aiken | first2 = Charles Curry | title = The American Counties: Origins of County Names, Dates of Creation, and Population Data | publisher = Scarecrow Press | year = 2005 | url = https://archive.org/details/americancounties0000kane| url-access = registration }}</ref> In 1907, Jonas Edward Johnson and his wife Bertha LaBranche Johnson established the Prentiss Institute. Situated on {{convert|40|acre|ha}} of land, with remnants of slave quarters on the property, it was considered one of the finest schools for [[African Americans]] in Mississippi. The school at first taught only the elementary grades, and began with 40 students whose tuition was often paid with chickens, eggs and produce. A [[Rosenwald School|Rosenwald]] classroom was built on the campus in 1926, and by 1953 the "Prentiss Normal and Industrial Institute" included a high school and junior college, had 44 faculty and more than 700 students, and included 24 buildings and {{convert|400|acre|ha|abbr=on}} of farmland, pasture and forest. In 1955, [[Heifer International]] donated 15 pure-bred cows to the school with the intention that the offspring be donated to needy farm families. It is noteworthy that the school gave some of the animals to poor white families. The school closed in 1989 and was designated an official Mississippi landmark in 2002.<ref>{{cite web | title = Prentiss Institute Jr. College | website=Hbcuconnect.com | url = http://www.hbcuconnect.com/colleges/117/border=0 | access-date =January 9, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Mississippi Landmarks | publisher = Mississippi Department of Archives and History | url = http://www.apps.mdah.ms.gov/Public/rpt.aspx?rpt=msLandmarkList&City=Prentiss&County=Any | access-date =January 1, 2014}}</ref>

[[Ralph Fults]] and [[Raymond Hamilton]], members of the notorious [[Barrow Gang]], robbed the bank in Prentiss in 1935.<ref>{{cite book | last = Caldwell Barrow | first = Blanche | title = My Life with Bonnie and Clyde | publisher = University of Oklahoma Press | year = 2012 | isbn = 9780806186757 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=VDms7hDJSYMC&q=%22Prentiss%2C+Mississippi%22&pg=PP1}}</ref>

In 1958, Rev. H.D. Darby of Prentiss filed a federal lawsuit challenging Mississippi's rigid voting eligibility laws for African Americans; it was the first lawsuit of its kind in Mississippi.<ref>{{cite book | last1 =  Armstrong | first1 = Thomas M.| last2 = Bell | first2 = Natalie R. | title = Autobiography of a Freedom Rider: My Life as a Foot Soldier for Civil Rights | publisher = HCI | year = 2011 | isbn = 9780757316036| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GgelclkQwGsC&pg=PP1}}</ref>

Prentiss police officer Ron Jones, Jr. was shot and killed by [[Cory Maye]] while executing a search warrant in 2001.