GIVE US THE CHILD...:

U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith attended and graduated from a segregation academy that w[as] set up so that white parents could avoid having to send their children to schools with black students, a yearbook reveals.

A group photo in the 1975 edition of The Rebel--the Lawrence County Academy Yearbook--illustrates the point. High-school cheerleaders smile at the camera as they lie on the ground in front of their pom-poms, fists supporting their heads. In the center, the mascot, dressed in what appears to be an outfit designed to mimic that of a Confederate general, offers a salute as she holds up a large Confederate flag.

Third from the right on the ground is a sophomore girl with short hair, identified in the caption as Cindy Hyde.

The photo, and the recently appointed Republican senator's attendance at one of the many private schools that was set up to bypass integration, adds historic context to comments she made in recent weeks about a "public hanging" that drew condemnations from across the political spectrum.

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