A City in Transition
Named after New Orleans railroad baron Henry Simpson McComb, this city’s fortunes followed the rise and fall of the railroad. Like many small municipalities, McComb hasn’t replaced the industry that gave it a name.
Today, McComb moves along two distinct tracks, one black and the other white. The black unemployment rate of 14 percent is more than double the white rate of 6 percent, according to American Community Survey data. White households earned approximately $36,400, while black households earned about $29,200. Both groups earn less than the U.S. average of $53,000, a gap that has existed for more than a decade. Manufacturing remains the largest industry in Pike County, where McComb is located; the retail and service industries round out the main outlets of employment.
McComb has fought hard to improve its public schools. Some of the district’s progress stems from a concerted effort beginning in 2009 to boost its then-wanting graduation rate of 63 percent. Although numbers indicate that black achievement, overall, is significantly lower than white, the district decided to focus reform efforts specifically on the performance of black males.
The need for a focus on African American males remains. Overall, Mississippi’s black males graduated at a rate of just 51 percent for the 2012-2013 academic year, compared to 63 percent of white males, according to the Schott Foundation for Public Education, which, in a report titled “Black Lives Matter,” drew on multiple data sources to estimate and publish more complete graduation rates than those the state presented. The report also revealed huge discrepancies in black and white suspension rates: Some 17 percent of black students were suspended in Mississippi in 2012-2013, compared to just 7 percent of whites.