Built for African American students in the early phase of the state’s school Equalization program, Gentry was Mississippi’s first finger-plan school. It was composed of three single-loaded classroom wings opening onto covered outdoor walkways and courtyards. Two later wings demonstrate the ease of expanding this plan. Shed roofs cover the classrooms, and lower canopies shelter the walkways. At the front, an office and library hallway connects the classroom fingers, and at the rear is a separate shop building. The layout was influenced by nationally recognized published designs from states that also had warm climates, such as California and Texas, where architects accommodated booming student populations in buildings that merged indoor classroom spaces with outdoor corridors.