“What is it like going to school at … Ole Miss?” — the question I’ve learned to anticipate in every conversation.
Their raised eyebrows make the answer they expect obvious. A part of me knows the question is more about studying here as a Black person than studying here in general. My answer stays the same, laced with certainty and complication.
Being Black, a woman and a Mississippi Delta native at the University of Mississippi means continuously being reminded of your identity, so much so that when I finally found my voice, I immediately knew what I wished to amplify. Having intersectional identities, however, proved to create personal issues of its own.
Going to school here has been frustrating. It means constantly working more than one job to make ends meet, struggling to keep up in class and navigating a social world that seems foreign to who I am. Learning to take up space seemed like another chore to add to the list of challenges I had to overcome.
Year by year, I sat in class discussions filled with angst and anger as people tiptoed around conversations of race, discussions that are necessary to move forward. The tension physically manifests in questioning stares when you forget to code switch and moments of questioning whether or not a statement was a microaggression. I soon learned that if you have to question it, it probably was.
In the midst of my college experience, I am proud to have found a campus family. In the Aspen Young Leaders Fellowship (AYLF), a program promoting leadership in the Mississippi Delta, we are often asked about our anchors — what keeps us grounded throughout life.
Organizations like the Black Student Union, UM National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Men of Excellence or Esteem exist because navigating a campus you knew was not created with you in mind is not easy and having a support team keeps you anchored. Professors and different departments began to feel like a home away from home.
Despite how frustrating it can be, going to college here is empowering. For every challenge I face, a lesson is learned. It has been a bittersweet experience — every hardship paired with joy.
From the first time I had a Black professor to the day I defended my thesis, the joy in reaching a milestone you never imagined was possible has been one of the best feelings of my college experience. Being here means understanding that the transformation is still in motion, but the advocacy is happening. And there are people who care.
Completing my undergraduate degree is simply the end of a chapter. When asked what it’s like to go to school at “Ole Miss,” I bite my tongue, searching for a way to communicate that I don’t say “Ole Miss.”
For me, it’s the University of Mississippi: a place where African Americans once laid bricks for buildings and now walk as students, advocates, and inspirations. Even though the advocacy isn’t nearly over, at least the steps to create change have begun.
Bre’Anna Coleman is a senior political science and interdisciplinary studies major from Drew, Miss.
