re: Miss. State WR Reggie Todd arrested for assault

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He's a sidewalk fan

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So are you.

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Oktibbeha County


Lets talk about the real issue here. I bet there is not one ranter here, outside of the bass arse backwards state of Mississippi, that can pronounce that fricking county

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Why the University of Mississippi?

The state of Mississippi opened its flagship university in 1848. The first chancellor of the university, F.A.P. Barnard strove to create a one of the most advanced educational institutions of the time but his efforts were interrupted by the Civil War. As sectional controversy increased, Mississippi joined the fray, following South Carolina into secession in 1861. In February, 1861, Governor John J. Pettus commissioned the University Greys. Almost all of the university's students enlisted in the new regiment and when only four students reported to campus in the fall of 1861, the university closed, while most of its students went off to fight for the cause of the Confederacy. Ultimately, the University Grays suffered a one hundred percent casualty rate at Gettysburg.

General Robert E. Lee's admonishments after the Civil War to furl the battle flag seemed to hold sway for a time. The more important business of recovering from the devastation reeked by the war was tantamount. But tied closely to that recovery was the treatment of newly-freed slaves. The hopes for equality promised during Reconstruction were quickly dashed. Mississippi led in the creation of a Jim Crow state, legislating segregation with its post-Reconstruction constitution in 1890. All Southern states soon followed its example.

It was not a completely dismal time--in 1882, the university admitted women to the college, ahead of most flagship universities in the South. In the early decades of the twentieth century, a cadre of New South boosters lobbied for reconciliation with the North in an effort to propel economic advancement in the still-crippled region. It has been noted that one of the best creations of the New South was the Old South, a suggestion that reflects those New South boosters' attempts to mitigate their supplication of the assistance of the North by hearkening back to a nostalgic, if illusory, "moonlight and magnolia" time under slavery.

During this time period, the university became known as "Ole Miss," a moniker used by slaves to describe the wife of the plantation owner. In 1948, on the heels of his own presidential initiative on race, President Harry Truman desegregated the armed forces. In addition, he followed the recommendation of his civil rights commission and added a civil rights plank to the Democratic Platform for that year.

In response to this addition, the entire delegation from Mississippi and half of the delegation from Alabama walked out of the Democratic Convention. They formed a new party, the Dixiecrats, and ran Strom Thurmond from South Carolina as their presidential candidate. In the wake of this rebellion against recognition of civil rights as a priority, students at the university rallied behind their state's politicians, unfurling the Confederate battle flag put away long before. Thus a new "tradition" began. And yet, cooler heads seemed to prevail for a time. With the defeat of the Dixiecrats, Mississippi elected a moderate governor, J.P. Coleman. In 1953, a survey conducted by the student newspaper found that a majority of students attending the university would welcome a black student.

But after allowing the FBI to investigate a lynching in the state, Coleman was defeated in the next gubernatorial election by Ross Barnett. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court abolished segregated education and massive resistance to integration began in the South. In 1962, after months of negotiation, James Meredith was admitted to the university, the first black student. Many from outside the state came to campus to repel what they saw as an attack upon their way of life, calling the occasion the last battle of the Civil War. They were joined by students and Mississippians as well.

The Kennedy administration called in federal troops to quell the uprising. Caught in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy was informed that missiles in Cuba had a range of 4500 miles. He replied, "Can they hit Oxford, Mississippi?" His retort attests to serious nature of the resistance to integration at the university. That resistance to Meredith's arrival on campus caused a night of rioting on September 30, 1962, with two dead and many wounded. Troops remained on campus for the next year protecting Meredith, who graduated the following May.

In civil rights historiography, the riot at the University stands as a signal event. The University of Mississippi has changed greatly over the last 35 years. Today about 12% of the student body is black, but bullet holes still riddle the Lyceum columns in the Circle and their existence is tangible evidence of the lengths some have been willing to go to prevent racial justice. James Meredith, in a recent column in the Daily Mississippian, called "Mississippi" the most powerful word in the English language. From slavery to Civil War battles, to entrenched segregation and the violent lynchings of Emmett Till, James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman, among many thousands of others, Mississippi holds a prominent place in the memory of those concerned with human rights.

And yet, throughout its history, the state has witnessed many whites and blacks who have challenged white supremacy. Too often, their story remains untold. Mississippi is the bogeyman of racism for the United States and has become the repository of all that is impossible to improve. The record of those who have challenged those stereotypes is clear. The participation in a national conversation committed to challenging racial oppression by Mississippians attests to the continued desire and willingness to change. Therefore, there is perhaps no more appropriate place to hold a discussion on race relations than the flagship university of the state of Mississippi.

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Marketing grad.

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From?

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