Black journalists in the post-Reconstruction era unflinchingly documented the white supremacist violence, both physical and psychological, inflicted on Black people during this period. Wherever possible, we have used the language and descriptions presented in these materials to faithfully convey the pain and sense of urgency of their moment. Readers can expect to find offensive language in this article.
In the early 1980s, the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) was embroiled in controversy over its ongoing use of the Confederate flag as a school symbol. In spring of 1982, the University of Mississippi student body elected its first Black cheerleader, John Hawkings, to the school squad. But that fall, Hawkings refused to take part in the traditional waving of the Confederate Battle Flag at the home opener. Although Hawkins attended the game, the responsibility was given to another cheerleader.[1]
While the Confederate Battle Flag was not an official school symbol, it was in regular use as an unofficial one. Hawkings’ refusal to wave it was the first incident in what became a larger confrontation between Black students and the university the following spring.[2] According to the Black journalist organization United Press International, the school’s Black Student Union presented university officials with a petition of 13 demands, including “removal of ‘all racist symbols’ such as the Rebel flag, the Colonel Rebel mascot and the song ‘Dixie’ at school events. They also called for more Black faculty, counselors, Black Studies classes and job placement programs for Blacks.”[3] It is unclear if these requests were made public by the Black Student Union or if they were leaked to the student body by word of mouth.
But when the broader, predominantly white student population found out about the demand to remove the flag from school events, the result was a face-off between white and Black students. The Atlanta Daily World, the Carolina Times, and the Afro-American published reports by UPI detailing the controversy. The UPI reported that on Monday, April 18th, 1983, “hundreds of white students gathered on campus…singing ‘Dixie’ and chanting ‘Save the Flag.’”[4] The students then protested in front of the house of Chancellor Porter Fortune before moving on to the school’s only Black fraternity house at the time, home of Phi Beta Sigma.[5]
While reports from UPI conveyed the bare facts of the event, it was a series of op-eds that captured the emotional depth of the stand-off. The UPI report on the April 18th protests, for instance, only stated “there were no incidents,”[6] a phrasing that conveyed no physical injury, without documenting the psychological and traumatic effects of the events. Leon Daniel, a UPI reporter, authored his own op-eds to publicize the emotional response to the stand-off. In his reporting on the April 18th demonstration, he interviewed a member of the Black fraternity that was the site of the protests: “‘I was afraid,’ said [Danny] Love, who described how he and several other brothers huddled inside the only fraternity house for Blacks at Ole Miss, listening to the mob outside scream ‘nigger.’… ‘We knew they were capable of breaking into the house.’”^7 Love’s account, Daniel pointed out, stands in stark contrast to the characterization of Ed Meek, Ole Miss’ director of the university’s department of public relations, who claimed “It was nothing but a spring pep rally.”[^8]
Daniel reported on facets of the controversy that mainstream news services were not capturing, emphasizing the impact of the volatile white counter-protests—and the Battle Flag itself—on Black students. He went on to write:
Fear is what this story is all about, although some on both sides of the issue insist it is about…the confederate flag that white Ole Miss students are fond of waving at football games. To many of the 700 or so black students, it seems that the 9,300 white students and thousands of white fans are waving ‘racist symbols’ in their faces.[^9]
Daniel also reported on how Black football players were affected, something the other news service reports overlooked. White students at Ole Miss insisted that the waving of the Confederate flags was meant to inspire their football team, although almost half of the team at the time was Black. When it came to the controversy, Daniel reported “The black players do not say anything. That is because, according to the black students, the players fear losing their athletic scholarships. Coaches privately acknowledge the rebel flag hinders their efforts to recruit black athletes.”[7]
Commemoration of the Confederacy was ingrained in the culture of the campus and the surrounding town, another central issue in Daniel’s reporting. The demonstration outside of Phi Beta Sigma took place at the beginning of Dixie Week, a “campus celebration of spring that features food, fun, and lots of beer… Rebel flags fly from windows at fraternity houses and dormitories. Business establishments in town display signs saying ‘save the flag.’”[8]
Daniel and other Black journalists also connected the incidents to riots that had taken place two decades before, when James Meredith integrated Ole Miss. When first reporting on the controversy, the UPI made sure to note that Ole Miss was “the scene of a major outburst 20 years ago when James Meredith finally entered school after 3,000 National Guard Troops put down the riot.”[9] In a dramatic metaphor, Daniel described the University as being “deflowered in 1962 in an explosion of rioting set off by racial hatred” and claimed that in these new demonstrations, it “has been violated again by those who claim to love her.”[10]
The day after the protests by white students, Black students held a demonstration of their own. Hundreds of Black students gathered at the main administration building, where they held hands and recited the Lord’s Prayer. This was followed by the singing of “We Shall Overcome,” “the anthem of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.”[11] Following the Black students’ calls for the Confederate flag to be disavowed by the university, 3,000 Ole Miss students signed a petition urging university officials not to do so.[12]
In the weeks following the demonstrations, University Chancellor Porter Fortune announced a new school policy that would prohibit the flag from being used by the university as a school symbol, but stated it would have no effect on the ability of individual students to wave or display the flag themselves. He also stated that the school would continue to use the Confederate Rebel as their mascot and that “Dixie” would still be sung as an official school song. Black students met the announcement with harsh criticism while white students celebrated what they saw as a victory.[13]
The controversy was brought back to the national spotlight in 1991, when student Thomas Lowell Ketchum, Jr., brought the University to court over what he claimed was “an illegal ban on use of the Confederate battle flag” that violated his constitutional right to free speech.[14] The Associated Press reported that Ketchum sought “an order allowing the campuswide [sic] sale, distribution, and display of the flag and requiring an election among students to determine whether to officially adopt the Confederate flag or any other banner as the school symbol.”[15]
The university denied having any sort of ban on the flag. They had adopted no new official policies on student use of the flag since Chancellor Fortune’s announcement in 1982. However, they had prohibited campus-run outlets from selling the flag and placed new limits on the size of banners waved at school functions. The Ole Miss Students Association had also taken steps to reduce the Confederate flag’s use, such as voting “to discourage use of the flag by alumni at school functions” and adopting a new flag sporting the letter M as the new official symbol.[16]
In 1997, the 52-member University Associated Student Body voted to discourage the waving of the Confederate flag at school events among the student body. This decision aligned with calls being made by then-Chancellor Robert Khayat and football coach Tommy Tuberville for the flag-waving to cease.[17]
As of 2023, Ole Miss sports teams are still using the label “the Rebels.”^21
Olivia Haynie
Please cite as:
Haynie, Olivia. “‘Fear Is What This Story Is All About’: Confederate Flag Controversy at Ole Miss.” False Image of History: Perspectives on Confederate Commemoration from the Black Press (online). Fall 2024 Edition. Schaefer, Donovan O., ed. URL = https://falseimage.pennds.org/essay/confederate-flag-controversy-at-ole-miss-2/.
References
Associated Press. “Ole Miss denies impeding students’ rights.” Philadelphia Tribune, Nov 12, 1991.
Atlanta Daily World. “Miss. Students Against Waving Confederate Flag.” Oct 31, 1997.
Daniel, Leon. “2 decades after Ole Miss riot Stars and Bars still wave.” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), May 14 1983.
Olemisssports.com. “Ole Miss Athletics.” Accessed June 20, 2023. Available at https://olemisssports.com.
United Press International. “Black Students Protest Rebel Flag At Ole Miss.” Atlanta Daily World, Apr 22, 1983.
United Press International. “Oxford, Miss.” Carolina Times (Durham, NC), Sep 18, 1982.
United Press International. “Use of rebel flag stirs dispute at Ole Miss.” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), Apr 30, 1983.
United Press International, “Oxford, Miss,” Carolina Times (Durham). ↩︎
United Press International, “Use of rebel flag stirs dispute at Ole Miss,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD). ↩︎
United Press International, “Black Students Protest Rebel Flag At Ole Miss,” Atlanta Daily World. ↩︎
United Press International, “Black Students Protest Rebel Flag At Ole Miss,” Atlanta Daily World. ↩︎
United Press International, “Black Students Protest Rebel Flag At Ole Miss,” Atlanta Daily World. ↩︎
United Press International, “Black Students Protest Rebel Flag At Ole Miss,” Atlanta Daily World. ↩︎
Daniel, “2 decades after Ole Miss riot Stars and Bars still wave,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD). ↩︎
Daniel, “2 decades after Ole Miss riot Stars and Bars still wave,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD). ↩︎
United Press International, “Black Students Protest Rebel Flag At Ole Miss,” Atlanta Daily World. ↩︎
Daniel, “2 decades after Ole Miss riot Stars and Bars still wave,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD). ↩︎
United Press International, “Black Students Protest Rebel Flag At Ole Miss,” Atlanta Daily World. ↩︎
United Press International, “Black Students Protest Rebel Flag At Ole Miss,” Atlanta Daily World. ↩︎
United Press International, “Use of rebel flag stirs dispute at Ole Miss,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD). ↩︎
Associated Press, “Ole Miss denies impeding students’ rights,” Philadelphia Tribune. ↩︎
Associated Press, “Ole Miss denies impeding students’ rights,” Philadelphia Tribune. ↩︎
Associated Press, “Ole Miss denies impeding students’ rights,” Philadelphia Tribune. ↩︎
Atlanta Daily World, “Miss. Students Against Waving Confederate Flag.” ↩︎