• Apply
  • Archives
  • NewsWatch
  • Classifieds
  • Multimedia
    • Ole Miss in Puerto Rico
    • Campus Protests
    • The Queen of Marks
    • Meet Aubrey Armstrong, a Real Champion and Local Celebrity
    • Mississippi voters passed Initiative 65. What’s next?
Monday, March 1, 2021
  • Login
No Result
View All Result
The Daily Mississippian
  • News

    Fall 2021 semester to ‘return to normal,’ chancellor announces

    Grove Grocery opens a second location

    ‘Change is in the air’: SMBHC dean to resign after 19 years

    University asks students, faculty how willing they are to receive the vaccine

    Oxford Police Department arrests alleged soccer field vandals

    Campus Walk suffers property damage from winter storms

  • Sports

    Baseball is back at Swayze: Ole Miss sits 5-2 after first home games

    Ole Miss track and field finished strong at 2021 SEC Indoor Championships

    Ole Miss soccer wins spring season debut over Samford

    Ole Miss soccer wins spring season debut over Samford

    Men’s basketball sweeps over No. 24 Missouri

    Track and field teams to compete in SEC Championships

    Ole Miss soccer hosts Samford for spring season debut

  • Arts & Culture
    Arts council unveils statue of Ron ‘Ronzo’ Shapiro

    Arts council unveils statue of Ron ‘Ronzo’ Shapiro

    Despite strict food business restrictions, Blenz Bowls comes to UM

    Despite strict food business restrictions, Blenz Bowls comes to UM

    Album review: Taylor Swift reminds the world of her unbridled imagination with “Evermore”

    The secret to The Luv Shak’s success

  • Opinion

    Guest column: We need new student housing codes for cold weather

    Opinion: The university needs to find its sense of shame

    Opinion: Students, vote in the municipal elections

    Letter to the editor: Understanding the truth of lynching

  • Print Editions
  • Advertise
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Policy
    • Classifieds
  • Contact
  • News

    Fall 2021 semester to ‘return to normal,’ chancellor announces

    Grove Grocery opens a second location

    ‘Change is in the air’: SMBHC dean to resign after 19 years

    University asks students, faculty how willing they are to receive the vaccine

    Oxford Police Department arrests alleged soccer field vandals

    Campus Walk suffers property damage from winter storms

  • Sports

    Baseball is back at Swayze: Ole Miss sits 5-2 after first home games

    Ole Miss track and field finished strong at 2021 SEC Indoor Championships

    Ole Miss soccer wins spring season debut over Samford

    Ole Miss soccer wins spring season debut over Samford

    Men’s basketball sweeps over No. 24 Missouri

    Track and field teams to compete in SEC Championships

    Ole Miss soccer hosts Samford for spring season debut

  • Arts & Culture
    Arts council unveils statue of Ron ‘Ronzo’ Shapiro

    Arts council unveils statue of Ron ‘Ronzo’ Shapiro

    Despite strict food business restrictions, Blenz Bowls comes to UM

    Despite strict food business restrictions, Blenz Bowls comes to UM

    Album review: Taylor Swift reminds the world of her unbridled imagination with “Evermore”

    The secret to The Luv Shak’s success

  • Opinion

    Guest column: We need new student housing codes for cold weather

    Opinion: The university needs to find its sense of shame

    Opinion: Students, vote in the municipal elections

    Letter to the editor: Understanding the truth of lynching

  • Print Editions
  • Advertise
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Policy
    • Classifieds
  • Contact
No Result
View All Result
The Daily Mississippian
No Result
View All Result

Five of the Ole Miss Eight return to campus

Grace TurnagebyGrace Turnage
February 25, 2020
3 min read
A panel discussion was held after the reading for the five in attendance that were suspended in 1970. Photo by Billy Schuerman.

In 1970, Fulton Chapel was the setting of a peaceful protest that resulted in major changes to the university and the suspension of eight students, now known as the Ole Miss Eight. Five of the students — Henriese Roberts, Kenneth Mayfield, Donald Ray Cole, Theron Evans Jr. and Linnie Liggins — joined Ralph Eubanks and the lawyer who represented them, on Monday to discuss the historical implication of their suspensions.

“It was an opportunity to shed light on important issues,” Liggins said.

The majority of the university’s population was white, and the school’s black population of just under 200 people faced frequent, overt racism on campus. 

A lack of social equality and representation fueled members of the Black Student Union (BSU) to protest on campus. 

Katherine Aberle-Flores, a Southern studies graduate student, directed “Black Power at Ole Miss,” a documentary that was screened Monday night. Her film told the stories of a handful of students who were arrested that day.

Mayfield described his experience during this time at the university. 

“We’d study, go to class and then start protesting,” he said.

Mayfield said they knew this would be the only way to get the administration and student body to listen to their demands. 

A few of their 27 demands — which they gave to then-Chancellor Porter Fortune — included: a presence of African American faculty, abolition of the Confederate flag as a booster symbol and a minimum wage for employees. 

Roberts, Mayfield, Cole, Evans and Liggins agreed that the Black Student Union was motivated to achieve equality on campus for all future generations of African American students who enroll at the university. 50 years later, they are still advocating for change.

“We live in a caste system,” Roberts said. “Our children are tracked for mass incarceration. I think it’s a problem that we need to learn to communicate about. We need to strive to build a better community.”

Eubanks, who wrote an article for The New Yorker this week about the protests, moderated the panel. To conclude, Eubanks asked each of them to tell the audience what they would tell future African American students at the university. 

Evans shared a story about his father’s influence on his perseverance. For Evans’s father, an education provided something that could not be taken away. 

Mayfield received his law degree and practiced as a civil rights lawyer. 

Cole earned his doctorate in mathematics from the university and had returned to campus as a professor and assistant provost. He retired last year, after 21 years of service.

Though Evans’s father never received a full education, he said, “If you get an education, then they can’t deny you.” 

Though Liggins completed all of the credits for her bachelor’s degree at the time of her suspension, the university would not give her a diploma. Fifty years later, Liggins finally received her diploma outside of Fulton Chapel on Tuesday.

In Case You Missed It

Baseball is back at Swayze: Ole Miss sits 5-2 after first home games

16 hours ago

Ole Miss track and field finished strong at 2021 SEC Indoor Championships

16 hours ago

Fall 2021 semester to ‘return to normal,’ chancellor announces

16 hours ago

Grove Grocery opens a second location

17 hours ago

‘Change is in the air’: SMBHC dean to resign after 19 years

17 hours ago
Ole Miss soccer wins spring season debut over Samford

Ole Miss soccer wins spring season debut over Samford

23 hours ago

Five of the Ole Miss Eight return to campus

Grace TurnagebyGrace Turnage
February 25, 2020
3 min read
A panel discussion was held after the reading for the five in attendance that were suspended in 1970. Photo by Billy Schuerman.

In 1970, Fulton Chapel was the setting of a peaceful protest that resulted in major changes to the university and the suspension of eight students, now known as the Ole Miss Eight. Five of the students — Henriese Roberts, Kenneth Mayfield, Donald Ray Cole, Theron Evans Jr. and Linnie Liggins — joined Ralph Eubanks and the lawyer who represented them, on Monday to discuss the historical implication of their suspensions.

“It was an opportunity to shed light on important issues,” Liggins said.

The majority of the university’s population was white, and the school’s black population of just under 200 people faced frequent, overt racism on campus. 

A lack of social equality and representation fueled members of the Black Student Union (BSU) to protest on campus. 

Katherine Aberle-Flores, a Southern studies graduate student, directed “Black Power at Ole Miss,” a documentary that was screened Monday night. Her film told the stories of a handful of students who were arrested that day.

Mayfield described his experience during this time at the university. 

“We’d study, go to class and then start protesting,” he said.

Mayfield said they knew this would be the only way to get the administration and student body to listen to their demands. 

A few of their 27 demands — which they gave to then-Chancellor Porter Fortune — included: a presence of African American faculty, abolition of the Confederate flag as a booster symbol and a minimum wage for employees. 

Roberts, Mayfield, Cole, Evans and Liggins agreed that the Black Student Union was motivated to achieve equality on campus for all future generations of African American students who enroll at the university. 50 years later, they are still advocating for change.

“We live in a caste system,” Roberts said. “Our children are tracked for mass incarceration. I think it’s a problem that we need to learn to communicate about. We need to strive to build a better community.”

Eubanks, who wrote an article for The New Yorker this week about the protests, moderated the panel. To conclude, Eubanks asked each of them to tell the audience what they would tell future African American students at the university. 

Evans shared a story about his father’s influence on his perseverance. For Evans’s father, an education provided something that could not be taken away. 

Mayfield received his law degree and practiced as a civil rights lawyer. 

Cole earned his doctorate in mathematics from the university and had returned to campus as a professor and assistant provost. He retired last year, after 21 years of service.

Though Evans’s father never received a full education, he said, “If you get an education, then they can’t deny you.” 

Though Liggins completed all of the credits for her bachelor’s degree at the time of her suspension, the university would not give her a diploma. Fifty years later, Liggins finally received her diploma outside of Fulton Chapel on Tuesday.

In Case You Missed It

Baseball is back at Swayze: Ole Miss sits 5-2 after first home games

16 hours ago

Ole Miss track and field finished strong at 2021 SEC Indoor Championships

16 hours ago

Fall 2021 semester to ‘return to normal,’ chancellor announces

16 hours ago

Grove Grocery opens a second location

17 hours ago

‘Change is in the air’: SMBHC dean to resign after 19 years

17 hours ago
Ole Miss soccer wins spring season debut over Samford

Ole Miss soccer wins spring season debut over Samford

23 hours ago

Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube
Mississippi Press Association

Sign up for The Morning Briefing, our newsletter with the top news of the day.

SUBSCRIBE

  • News
  • Sports
  • Arts & Culture
  • Opinion
  • Print Editions
  • Advertise
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Policy
    • Classifieds
  • Contact

All Rights Reserved to S. Gale Denley Student Media Center 2019

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Sports
  • Arts & Culture
  • Opinion
  • Print Editions
  • Advertise
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Policy
    • Classifieds
  • Contact

All Rights Reserved to S. Gale Denley Student Media Center 2019

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In