 One plaque at the entrance of the school states that the campus was erected in 1952 for the "special consolidated school district for colored" for southern Sunflower County.As of 2012 the school's student body was 98% black, 1% Hispanic, and 1% White.Sarah Carr of "The Atlantic" said "Compared to Indianola Academy, Gentry High School is an open book, its academic struggles exposed to the world" and that "Gentry has struggled with test scores since the state's accountability system began in the 1990s."