1/ Have you ever wondered where “Ole Miss” comes from? We dug up the history.
It’s another case of white supremacy hiding in the nooks and crannies of our language. (Thread.)
It’s another case of white supremacy hiding in the nooks and crannies of our language. (Thread.)
2/ First, a little context. The University of Mississippi—known almost exclusively as “Ole Miss”—was founded in 1848 as an institution for slaveholder sons. It was created in part to keep students from studying in the north, where they might have picked up anti-slavery ideology.
3/ For a long time, the university only admitted white students. It did not accept its first Black student, James Meredith, until 1962, and Meredith’s acceptance came only after a lengthy legal battle. Violent protests ensued; two died and some 300 more were injured.
4/ The history of the name “Ole Miss” begins with a white student, Elma Meek, who proposed the name in 1896 for a new yearbook that was being created by an interfraternity group.
5/ Her inspiration for “Ole Miss” reportedly came from the name some slaves would use for the wife of their owner.
Meek later said she felt the name “connoted all the admiration and reverence accorded the womanhood of the Old South.” bit.ly/2VBPN0o
Meek later said she felt the name “connoted all the admiration and reverence accorded the womanhood of the Old South.” bit.ly/2VBPN0o
6/ The university has made attempts to tackle some of the most glaring representations of racism on campus—moving confederate statues, banning the Mississippi flag—but its official actions don’t always translate to the broader culture on campus.
7/ For the better part of the 20th century, for instance, the school’s mascot was Colonel Reb, a mustachioed caricature of a plantation owner. The university officially retired him in 2003—but the image is far from defunct.
8/ The way the university has dealt with the name has been even more opaque. In 2014, a committee comprised of administrators, faculty, and a handful of students released a report that alludes to the moniker but avoids addressing its racist history directly.
9/ While the official recommendation is, the university should “consider the implications of calling itself ‘Ole Miss’ in various contexts,” most of that section of the report appears to brush the roots of the name aside. Here’s more: 
10/ The school has some incentive to ignore its nickname’s origins. “Ole Miss” is a lucrative brand. As a recent graduate told @kbeccaandrews, “We have not moved on from [Ole Miss] because of capitalism…they’re making money off of that.”
11/ Forbes estimates that the annual revenue—over an average of three years—brought in from the “Ole Miss” football program alone is $84 million, making it one of the top 25 most lucrative college teams in the country.
12/ Grassroots efforts to change the name have come in small fits and starts over the years, though the overall conversation has lacked the urgency that has toppled other Confederate symbols.
13/ A handful of Black alums have taken to referring to the school as “New Miss,” creating T-shirts and tumblers with their moniker featured in place of the old. But the name hasn’t widely caught on.
14/ It is difficult to imagine the University of Mississippi as anything but “Ole Miss.” “It is also impossible to completely divorce the school from the values held in its Confederate past without going all-in on moving forward and making the change,” writes @kbeccaandrews.
15/15 Read @kbeccaandrews’ full feature story here: bit.ly/2VBPN0o
