The Daily Mississippian February 16, 2023

Celebrating Black History

‘Educated and uplifted’: Black Greeks continue the legacy

EMILY O’REILLY

The University of Mississippi has five of the nine historically Black National Greek Letter sororities and fraternities known as the “Divine Nine”: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated., Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated.

The National Pan-Hellenic Council was founded on May 10, 1930, at Howard University in Washington, DC.

“NPHC promotes the well-being of its affiliate fraternities and sororities, facilitates the establishment and development of local councils and provides leadership training for its members,” Caitlyn Horton, NPHC president and member of Delta Sigma Theta, said.

The Divine Nine were established to create a space for the Black community during a time of racial inequality, according to Horton.

“The Divine Nine organizations were established during a time when Black people in the world felt as if they had no place for themselves. These organizations were established with unique core values, constitutions, bylaws and one common goal in mind,” Horton said. “All of these organizations wanted to create a safe space for the Black community to be educated and uplifted during trying times when racial inequality didn’t give this opportunity anywhere else.”

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority is the oldest Greek-letter organization established by African American university women.

“Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority has participated in various

service and philanthropy projects such as our nationwide MLK day of service events, Childhood Hunger Initiative Power Pack — where we provide children with meals — and our Black Dollar Days in June, where we support and promote the growth of Black-owned businesses,” Kiana Gleeton, the Building Our Economic Wealth initiative chair for the Theta Psi chapter of AKA, said.

AKA has six initiatives: Strengthen Our Sisterhood, Empower Our Families, Build Our Economic Wealth, Enhance Our Environment, Advocate for Social Justice and Uplift our Local Community.

“These initiatives are designed to improve the lives of those we serve. We will work collaboratively to maximize our outreach on progressive endeavors and consistently produce leaders who will advance our credo of service,” Torie Marion, president of AKA’s Upsilon Iota Omega Chapter said.

The Divine Nine allows members to help their communities.

“The organizations recognized that they all faced similar issues and that working together would enable them to develop plans of action that would assist them in resolving problems in their communities,” Sedrick Scott, assistant director of Fraternity and Sorority Life at UM, said.

Each organization has local and national philanthropies. Horton noted that Delta Sigma Theta Sorority partners with the March of Dimes association, and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority participates in Operation Big Book Bag. The chapter collects and donates educational materials, equipment and school supplies. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity has an Education

Foundation that focuses on scholarship, programs and training. Omega Psi Phi Fraternity has a college endowment fund and gives at least $50,000 to historically Black colleges and universities.

Scott said the Divine Nine gives students of color opportunities they didn’t have before.

“Historically, when students of color were denied the opportunity to join fraternal organizations or attend colleges of their choice, the Divine Nine served as a vessel to catapult changes in universities’ policies and surrounding communities,” Scott said. “The Divine Nine gave students the opportunity to receive a holistic education with service at its forefront.”

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Members from the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. perform during halftime at an Ole Miss women’s basketball game against Kentucky on Feb. 13.

ASHLYNN PAYNE / THE DAILY MISSISSIPPIAN

The South is known for its delicious food, called “comfort food.” But it’s important to note that comfort food did not arise out of comfortable circumstances.

Most comfort food comes from the Deep South in states such as Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. During the Transatlantic Slave Trade, enslaved people were given very small amounts of food that was often of poor quality and nutritional value. Enslaved people used these foods to make and adapt traditional African recipes with what they were given. These recipes later became known as today’s soul food.

“One of the first things that I say in Southern food studies, maybe a bit provocatively, is that Southern food is Black food. There is no Southern food without the labor and the creative influence of African Americans. Southern food is the cuisine of cultural mixing,” Southern Foodways Alliance Associate Professor of Southern Studies and Associate Professor of Anthropology Catarina Passidomo said.

The South has always been represented by popular foods such as fried chicken, okra, collard greens and more, and Black people are to thank for it.

“This food genre, now associated with comfort and decadence, was born out of struggle and survival,” Vannessa Hayford, writer for the blog Black Foodie, said.

A telling example of this is the yam or sweet potato.

The word “yam” comes from a word meaning ‘to eat’ in the West African language Wolof.

‘Southern food is Black food’

When enslaved West Africans came to the United States and lived off of what they found in North America, what are commonly known as sweet potatoes came to be called yams, and new recipes and dishes were created and passed on.

“A lot of things that we now consider traditionally Southern, like okra and watermelon, maybe classic examples, came from Africa directly. I think any kind of clear-eyed examination of what Southern food is would certainly involve an acknowledgement of the contributions of African Americans,” Passidomo said.

Many UM students enjoy Southern foods often in their day to day lives.

“I like Southern foods, especially because I work at Ajax, so I work with Southern foods pretty much every day,” junior hospitality major Eli Waxler said.

Another student, sophomore biology major Kenny Van concurred.

“What’s not to like about Southern food? Green beans, mashed potatoes, corn bread, okra,” Van said.

Although these students appreciate these foods, neither knew how historically closely tied they were with enslaved Africans. Passidomo finds that unsurprising.

“I think that it’s pretty uncommon that students have had that experience of thinking deeply about where their food comes from geographically and also historically,” Passidomo said. “Until relatively recently, the foundational contributions of African Americans to Southern and American food were under-acknowledged or outright ignored by

mainstream white culture.”

Passidomo thinks that this trend in awareness about food is changing, however. Toni Tipton Martin, Micheal Twitty, and many other respected journalists and writers in the culinary world have authored works that seek to re-write the narrative and highlight the influence that African Americans have had on Southern food.

“Of course, Southern food today continues to evolve and incorporate ingredients and dishes from the diverse cultures that constitute the contemporary South,” Passimodo said.

Passidomo wants to

avoid telling an incomplete, grim picture of Southern food, however.

“There is something really powerful about food. It remains a tool of resistance for African Americans throughout the 20th century. Restaurants were really prominent places for political activism and resisting segregation,” Passidomo said. “Now there’s this tremendous revitalization of young African Americans trying to buy land to farm and seeing that as really a political act and a way to re-establish a connection to the land. I think that’s a really powerful story, too.”

Because of how Black people have used Southern food to resist oppression and assert pride in their culture, Passidomo believes Southern food is a very complex and vital aspect of Black culture.

“That also means thinking about not just enslavement and depression and violence, that’s part of the story, but I think it’s also important to acknowledge that there’s tremendous creativity and resilience in keeping food traditions alive and intentionally remaining connected to Africa through food,” Passidomo said. “That’s a really powerful form of resistance.”

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Black Fashion Society creates a community of fashion-minded students

LILY GISCLAIR thedmfeatures@gmail.com

The Black Fashion Society at the University of Mississippi is a confidence building club for all students with a passion for anything and everything fashion.

“The Black Fashion Society is about empowering minority students to be real with themselves and follow whatever passion they may have,” Caroline Sanders McCollum, society president, said.

It was with this spirit in mind that McCollum and Jordan Wells founded the Black Fashion Society in 2019.

“We saw on campus that there were no groups that were for minority students

take pictures,” McCollum said.

And the Black Fashion Society was born. Extending beyond the title of “club,” the society aspires to be the ignition for a movement. With approximately 45 members, roles in the Black Fashion Society range from modeling to photography to graphic design.

“We just wanted to establish this movement, a movement of bringing fashion to campus,” McCollum said.

The Black Fashion Society not only welcomes individuals belonging to every area of fashion, but also strives to include students from diverse backgrounds, cultures and gender identities.

While the club was created in hopes of forming a

Williams believes that minorities need more representation in the fashion world and on UM’s campus. He advocates for Black male models in particular.

“Male models are underrepresented in the modeling industry just because the world of modeling itself is a female dominated industry. Black peo-

lieve expansion for the club is prevented by lack of exposure. McCollum said that if knowledge of the club increased on UM’s campus so would membership, particularly among minority groups.

Azaria Wiggins, a senior and model for the Black Fashion Society, expressed her take on why more people should join.

“In a way the Black Fashion Society can also be used for professional development depending on how seriously people want to take advantage of the resources it provides,” Williams said. While career opportunities are a major pull to join, McCullom explained that part of the reason for forming

Left to right: Caroline Sanders McCollum, president of the Black Fashion Society, and models Quay Williams and Azaria Wiggins pose outside Bryant Hall.

Once their runway practice begins, each member transforms from a student to a supermodel. It’s clear that the Black Fashion Society is a safe space for members to be bold, without fear of judgment.

Diversity takes center stage at annual Black History Month concert

CLAY HALE

thedmfeatures@gmail.com

With an impressive list of upcoming events celebrating Black History Month around the University of Mississippi and the Oxford community, it can be hard to navigate which events should take priority on heavily populated schedules.

The annual Black History Month concert put on by the University of Mississippi’s music department is striving for strong turnout by promoting compositional, generational and gender-inclusive diversity.

George Worlasi Kwasi Dor, the McDonnell-Barksdale Chair of Ethnomusicology and Professor of Music, created the concert almost two decades ago.

“I realized that the music department was not planning any major activities during Black History Month celebrations. That wasn’t good enough,” Dor said.

His remedy? Create recognition for the month using something that connects a mass audience — music.

“Music plays a major role

in any kind of celebration, so I initiated and organized the first Black History Month concert in 2005,” Dor said.

Dor’s musical answer to the lack of recognition for Black History Month became a consistent tradition at the university and in the music department — even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What makes this year’s take particularly special, Dor said, is the further implementation of diversity and inclusion in the program.

This year’s edition will feature 10 African American composers, with 30% of those being women, which Dor emphasizes is a huge step in the direction of inclusivity. The concert also embraces generational diversity.

“(The composers) don’t all come from the same generation. We are talking about 19th century composers, 20th century composers and some who are still current,” Dor said.

This year’s participants include the University of Mississippi Gospel Choir, the Lafayette-Oxford-University Symphony Orchestra, the University of Mississippi Men’s

Glee Club, the Ole Miss African Drum and Dance Ensemble, collaborative pianist Amanda Johnson and guest artist Tanisha Ward, who graduated with her master’s degree from the university just a few years ago.

The show’s runtime was shortened to two hours so that there could be a higher concentration on these particular acts. Dor shared that for next year’s concert, another set of groups will be featured so they can also have a chance to share in the celebration.

Although that celebration theme is consistent throughout the show, Dor indicated that that does not mean the sound of the show will be synonymous throughout all of the performers.

“You cannot homogenize the sounds of the concepts,” Dor said. “Each group is going to be unique. What I know is that all of the directors are doing their best to give the audience a good show.”

The music department’s Black History Month Concert will start at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at the Gertrude C. Ford Center. It is free to the public. The annual UM Black History Month concert welcomes a wide array of guests and performers.

University Wind Ensemble celebrates Black composers

CAROLINE MCCUTCHEN

thedmfeatures@gmail.com

In celebration of Black History Month and the 60th year of integration, the University Wind Ensemble is set to perform pieces by celebrated African American composers on Feb. 17 at the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts.

The Wind Ensemble’s repertoire features “Come Sunday” by Omar Thomas, “In My Father’s Eyes” by Julie Giroux, “Dancing Fire” by Kevin Day and more compositions that commemorate African American culture and experiences.

“In My Father’s Eyes” is dedicated to the victims of the 1963 bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. Omar Thomas’s “Come Sun-

day” pays tribute to the Hammond organ’s central role in Black worship services. “Dancing Fire” by Kevin Day celebrates the joys of community found in playing in a musical group.

“It’s probably one of the most fun and engaging concerts I’ve played while at Ole Miss,” Colton Wilson, a senior allied health studies major and first chair clarinetist in the Wind Ensemble, said.

Doreen Ketchens, known as the Clarinet Queen of New Orleans, is set to accompany the Wind Ensemble as a featured soloist in their renditions of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.” In each of her performances, Ketchens offers audiences a soulful and stylistically unique sound that reflects her background in both jazz and classical training.

Recently honored with a doc-

torate degree in music, Ketchens stands as an eminent professional clarinetist, delighting audiences around the world with her virtuosic sound. The musician has played for four U.S. presidents and been featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live, HBO, CBS Sunday Morning and many other radio and television shows.

From New Orleans street shows and jazz festivals to U.S. embassies, Ketchens and her ensemble, Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans, share their musical talent across the world. Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans features an array of musicians, including Ketchens as a vocalist and clarinetist and her daughter Dorian as the group’s drummer.

“My consistent career highlight has been to perform, experience and travel the world with my family. We’ve watched

our daughter grow, from our arms to drum seats, around the world,” Ketchens said.

Ketchens shared the experiences and passions that have shaped her as a musician.

“I’ve been met with lots of hate, jealousy and animosity in life, especially during my early years. I was the girl who was nice to you even though you were treating me harshly,” Ketchens said. “I wouldn’t lash out because it was impolite, but I wanted to! I guess music lets all of that out.”

Raised in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, the heart of African American and Creole culture, Ketchens was surrounded by gospel and jazz music from a young age. For decades, Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans has frequented the French Quarter, enthralling locals and tourists alike with a soulful sound like no other.

“Work hard and practice. Always strive for yes, but be prepared for no. Don’t let the ‘no’ break you. Use it as determination, for stepping up your game plan,” Ketchens said.

Ketchens offered words of wisdom to inspire musicians at the university to follow their passions.

“Striving to be the best isn’t just a phrase; it’s a mission. Learn from your mistakes, failures and your enemies. Go that extra step to represent yourself in the best way. Never stop learning. Be humble, with a touch of arrogance, and remember this: A little respect goes a long way, but a little disrespect goes even further,” Ketchens said.

The Wind Ensemble concert is free to attend and will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 17, at the Ford Center, followed by a performance of the Mississippians Jazz Ensemble.

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Critic turned documentarian Elvis Mitchell discusses ‘Is That Black Enough for You?!?’

“If this burst of freedom and fulfillment was so well-received and the thirst never really went away, why did these Black films stop getting made?,” Elvis Mitchell, serving as essayist and narrator, says in the opening of his 2022 Netflix documentary “Is That Black Enough for You?!?”

Mitchell, celebrated film critic and historian turned filmmaker, has seemingly been circling this question his entire career.

The specific era in question is 1968-1978. Mitchell categorizes it as the golden age of Black cinema in America, and he even has the financial stats to prove it.

“At one point, John Calley, who ran Warner Bros. in the ’70s said to me, ‘The dirty little secret of American films is that Black films subsidized American movies of the 1970s’,” Mitchell said in a recent New York Film Festival Q&A.

Mitchell’s formal investigation into this golden age began around 25 years ago, yet the pervasive questions regarding Black representation in film have fascinated him practically his entire critical life — a state of mind inspired, in large part, by his grandmother, a Hattiesburg, Miss., native.

“She taught me to look for the question that wasn’t being asked … the foundation of critical thinking,” Mitchell says.

In the beginning of Mitchell’s deeply personal 135-minute film, he recounts visiting her over summer vacations, where she refused to let him and his sisters watch reruns of “The Andy Griffith Show.”

When confronted with the question of why, she simply said, “There are no Black people in that Southern town. What do you think happened to them?”

Difficult questions like these became the early seeds in Mitchell’s varied critical career, which has spanned the country — North, South, East and West: The Detroit Free Press, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The New York Times and the LA Weekly (to name only a few of the places to which Mitchell has contributed his unique insights).

Mitchell’s early conceptions of “Is That Black Enough

For You?!?” began in his usual literary form: a historical deep-dive and semi-autobiographical book, aptly subtitled, “How one decade forever changed the movies (and me).”

Although armed with allies by his side, including novelist Toni Morrison, who offered to write the introduction, Mitchell’s outlines failed to generate interest, at least in the literary world.

Following a Q&A with Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh, Mitchell informed him of his long-gestating idea, and he began to flirt with the possibility of transforming it into a cinematic form.

A few months later, So-

derbergh and Mitchell found themselves knocking on Netflix’s door, with the added help of Academy Award-nominated director David Fincher.

Shortly thereafter, the idea became a reality.

While beautifully realized as a work of nonfiction filmmaking, including interviews with Samuel L. Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Zendaya and Laurence Fishburne, to name a few, “Is That Black Enough for You?!?” maintains an inherent page-turning quality, one that will lead viewers down a rabbit hole of cinematic discovery.

In an early chapter, Mitchell recounts how the cinematic world, as well as his own world, shifted on its axis in 1968 with the release of “Night of the Living Dead.”

George Romero’s chilling classic quickly became one of the most profitable and influential films ever made and one of the first mainstream hits to feature a central protagonist played by a Black actor: the estimable Duane Jones.

“So much of what American cinema was about from the beginning is heroism and the kind of myths that create and propel commercial success in mov-

don Parks’s 1969 film, “The Learning Tree.” “How rare an occurrence it was seeing (a Black person on a horse) for the first time because it was almost like seeing a dream. It was a bombastic moment for me.”

Additionally, Mitchell high-

by, and what elevates “Is That Black Enough for You?!?” into a work of true profundity, capturing the empirical proof of the power that lies, not only in the films showcased, but in the medium as a whole.

“In addition to being a repository of hope, they were proof that we were here, that we exist, that we create culture,

that our community is a viable community, is an important community, that we have voices and that we will be heard,” Laurence Fishburne says toward the documentary’s conclusion.

“Is That Black Enough for You?!?” is available on Netflix. Mitchell can currently be found as host of The Treatment for KCRW.

ies,” Mitchell said. “And that hero, which had been sold and denied to people of color, was something they were really dying to get into the movies, and the audiences responded to it.”

With the combined success of popular hits like “Night of the Living Dead,” underground arthouse fare such as William Greaves’s “Symbiopsychotaxiplasm” and the oft-reliable Sidney Poitier picture, the perception of Black cinema, in turn, shifted on its axis.

And what a golden age it was.

From the joyous machismo of “Shaft” to the quiet devastation of “Killer of Sheep” (recently named one of the 100 greatest films of all time by the Sight and Sound magazine), Mitchell designates an era that seemingly illuminated as many possible sides of the Black experience as well as offered experiences and images seldom seen on the silver screen.

“For example, seeing somebody on a horse implied freedom, and they can go anywhere they want,” Mitchell said when we discussed a shot from Gor-

lights how the era in Black film, and the wide array of opportunities therein, often served as a direct counterweight to the mainstream ‘70s cinema America is most often associated with; for every “Last Picture Show,” there’s a “Cooley High.”

While celebratory of the opportunities afforded to artists of color at the start of the decade, “Is That Black Enough For You?!?” dons an equally derisive stance against the opportunities taken away from those very artists toward the end of the decade by the powers that be in Hollywood moviemaking.

While the industry flew to new fantastical heights with 1978’s “Superman,” it financially crashed and burned with the well-intentioned but miscalculated adaptation of “The Wiz,” marking a pendulum swing toward a financially safer, less diverse mode of expression.

The distance between these peaks and valleys is what Mitchell remains fascinated

Filmmakers Elvis Mitchell, left, and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders attend the HBO premiere of “The Black List: Volume 2” at The Apollo Theater, in New York, on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009.

Bringing the art of step into the spotlight

REESE ANDERSON thedmfeatures@gmail.com

In celebration of Black History Month, the Gertrude C. Ford Center welcomed Step Afrika!, a Washington, D.C.-based dance company that fuses traditional African dance with contemporary African American stepping.

Last Tuesday, audience members of all ages clapped, cheered and whooped their way through Step Afrika!’s interactive performance.

Step Afrika! is the first professional dance company dedicated to stepping, a dance form with roots in the Black greek organizations on college campuses. Step is a dance without music where the body becomes a percussive instrument. Steppers produce their own rhythms with footsteps, clapping and spoken word.

“We define stepping as a highly energetic polyrhythmic percussive dance form,” Mfoniso Akpan, the group’s artistic director (and a former Step Afrika! dancer herself), said. “It started with members of the National Panhellenic Council, which are African American sororities and fraternities.”

The National Panhellenic Council is made up of nine Black sororities and fraternities, also known as the Divine Nine.

“It didn’t start out in the way that you see it today with all of the intricacies of the movement, but it started out a little more simply on the college campuses, where people would be stepping around a tree or singing around a plot, real simple movements. They were really just showcasing their love and pride for their organizations,” she said.

A committee of faculty and students voted to book Step Afrika! as part of the Ford Center’s Artist Series.

Julie Aubrey, director of the Ford Center, realizes that it is crucial for the University of Mississippi to showcase Black cultural exports like step, as UM is a predominantly white institution.

“They look for shows that are diverse and ones that our community would not necessarily have the opportunity to experience,” Aubrey said.

C. Brian Williams, who founded Step Afrika!, stepped with Howard University’s chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He lived in South Africa post-graduation, where he was struck by the similarities between stepping and the South African gumboot dance, practiced by enslaved gold miners to entertain each other during the work day and to warn when a supervisor was approaching.

The two dance forms are not actually linked, but the connection Williams made spurred him to merge African dance with step. This first took form in 1994 as a cultural exchange festival between South Africans and Americans. Members of the Soweto Dance Company of Johannesburg taught dances like the gumboot and Zulu styles to African Americans, who in turn shared their knowledge of hip hop and step.

Under Williams’ leadership, the cultural exchange grew into a dance company of international prominence. Step Afrika! serves as a cultural ambassador for Washington, D.C., representing the nation at events around the world. The company has performed in 49 U.S. states and on several continents.

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“We traveled quite extensively across the nation and internationally sharing our culture and our love of the art form,” Akpan said. “We’ve been to South America, Europe, Asia, Africa. You name it,

we’ve pretty much been there.”

Feb. 13 was not Step Afrika!’s first time in Mississippi. The group has also completed an educational residency in Tupelo and performed at Jackson State University.

One does not have to wait for a Step Afrika! show to experience stepping locally, though. The University of Mississippi has five active chapters of The Divine Nine, who have their own robust culture of stepping and dancing.

“Step and dancing first and foremost is a way for NPHC sororities and fraternities to set themselves apart from Panhellenic sororities and fraternities,” Ren Hite, a third-year journalism major and member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, said.

Members of NPHC chapters also stroll, a dance form related to stepping, but that’s less percussive and where danc-

ers are accompanied by music.

“Within NPHC, every sorority and fraternity also has their own individual strolls and steps to set themselves apart from other chapters within their organizations and across the nation,” Hite said.

The active chapters of NPHC at UM performed during halftime of Monday’s women’s basketball game. They also perform on the Union Plaza at Union Unplugged, hosted by the Student Activities Association.

“At Union Unplugged, you see strolling. It has music, different songs. Stepping is totally without music. The rhythms come from your feet and your hands clapping,” Sedric Scott, assistant director of UM Fraternity and Sorority Life, said. “So some of it intertwines, but they’re two different things.”

Both stepping and strolling are vital to the Divine Nine.

“Dance is a way to express our culture,” Taylor Lampkin, a senior biology major and first vice president of UM’s chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, said. “It also brings unity to the NPHC community. We can be as creative as we want to in order to showcase ourselves. We don’t have to worry about being judged or misunderstood because this is a concept that our community was taught.” Community is a universal value in stepping, as Step Afrika!’s Akpan also emphasized.

“It is an interactive, energetic experience. It’s not just about us on stage, but it really is also about community. It’s about our audience members, too,” Lampkin said. “You’re not just someone who comes and sits back and politely claps, you’re actually interacting with us and there’s an exchange of energy that happens.”

The Black experience in honors college

PALEIF RASPBERRY

thedmfeatures@gmail.com

The Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College has been a distinguished institution at the University of Mississippi for more than 25 years. The program prides itself on prioritizing diversity and giving students with different backgrounds and stories the opportunity to pursue intellectual endeavors.

In honor of Black History Month, some students and faculty shared their experiences in the Honors College and expressed why diversity within it is important.

Black members of the Honors College Minority Engagement Council, better known as HOCOMEC, discussed their varying perspectives of the Black experience in the honors college.

“Being a minority in the honors college has opened unique doors for me,” De-

shauna Lee Vaughn, co-president of HOCOMEC, said.

Lee Vaughn explained that her position within the program allows her to have conversations with the school’s leadership and fellow members of HOCOMEC.

Anna Buckley, a freshman at the university, gave a different perspective.

“Coming to the honors college was hard,” Buckley said.

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One thing that helped her make the adjustment was forming relationships with other Black students that went through a similar adjustment period.

One of the highlights of her experience so far was hearing Markeeva Morgan speak at the honors college’s fall 2022 convocation. Morgan was the first Black person to graduate from the program. Buckley said the speech inspired her.

“I think a lot of the time when you think of Ole Miss you think of people that look a certain way,” Buckley said, referring to

the university’s status as a predominantly white institution.

Seeing Morgan reminded her that she can be Black, successful and receive an education from Ole Miss.

Similarly to Buckley, freshman Layla Ashley experienced culture shock. Ashley is from Chicago and had gone to predominantly Black schools until she came to the university.

“Going from being in a space where I don’t feel like the odd person out, at least appearance wise, to a (predominantly white institution) is a very obvious thing,” Ashley said.

But not all Black students find themselves out of their element. Yasmine Ware, a freshman, expressed that she has had a positive experience being a minority in the honors college. Coming into the program wasn’t a big shift for her because she came from a background of going to predominantly white institutions.

“It’s not a culture shock for me,” Ware said.

However, Ware said that she is in the honors college senate and wishes that there was more representation.

“It’s an honor to be a part of a group of leadership, but I don’t feel like it truly expresses all the diversity of the honors college,” Ware said.

Another topic that some of the students discussed was their appreciation for the Honors 101 and 102 courses offered. Even though they might be one of the only minorities in the room, being able to talk about their experiences and opinions in an academic setting focused on identity is something they expressed gratitude for.

Ethel Scurlock, the first African American dean of the honors college, shared her thoughts about the program’s initiative to increase and maintain racial diversity, especially for Black students. She starts by

explaining that it’s important because 38% of Mississippi’s population is African American and Mississippi has the highest percentage of African Americans in the United States.

“I want more African American students to really understand that the honors college is a place where they can come and be stretched imaginatively and intellectually,” Scurlock said.

Scurlock highlighted the importance of empathy as a value for an institution that sends leaders into the world.

“If students have never had a conversation with the different groups of people they are leading, how can they be empathetic,” Scurlock said.

Scurlock believes that diversity makes everybody better.

“It’s important to have different voices at the table. If all of us think the same, look the same, act the same, approach problems the same, it’s redundant,” Scurlock said.

Step Afrika! performs at the Ford Center on Feb. 13.

TEVIN BOYD / THE DAILY MISSISSIPPIAN

Courageous Black head coaches at the University of Mississippi in the past have paved the way for the coaches of today and the future.

Ken Gibson was not only the first Black coach at Ole Miss but also the first coach for the women’s track and field program at the university in 1985. Gibson passed away in 2022 at the age of 88. However, his legacy lives on through every Black coach that has followed in his footsteps.

Gibson also oversaw men’s track and field and the cross country programs.

During his three-year tenure at the university, Gibson’s teams won an NCAA team title along with five individual national championships.

Following his final season as head coach of the Rebels, Gibson served on the U.S. Olympic coaching staff and coached two of his athletes in the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea.

Four years after Gibson’s departure, Ole Miss hired its second Black head coach, the first in a major sport.

Oklahoma State assistant basketball coach Rob Evans received his first head coaching job at Ole Miss in 1992 after serving as an assistant coach for 21 seasons.

Evans played basketball at Lubbock Christian University, where he met fellow freshman and white teammate Gerald Turner.

Evans knew that Turner had played alongside few Black players, which pushed Evans to form a relationship with his teammate. Close to three decades later, his former teammate and close friend, by then chancellor for the Uni-

Black head coaches at Ole Miss pave way for others

versity of Mississippi, was the primary motivator behind the hiring of Evans as head coach.

When Evans took over the program, Ole Miss had only one winning season over the past nine years and only one NCAA Tournament bid in history.

During his second season, Evans led the Rebels to a 1413 record, the program’s first winning season in seven years.

In 1997 and 1998, he coached his teams to SEC Western Division titles and back-to-back NCAA Tournament bids. Following his success, Evans was named the 1997 Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year and was offered the head coaching job at LSU, with a salary raise of approximately $500,000 more than what he was making in Mississippi. He declined the position because he believed his work at Ole Miss was not done yet.

Following the 1998 season, Evans left the program for the head coaching position at Arizona State.

When Evans departed for Arizona State, Ole Miss promoted Evans’ assistant coach and former Rebel basketball player Rod Barnes to fill his shoes.

In his first season as head coach, Barnes coached the Rebels to its first ever NCAA Tournament win. Barnes and his team made history during the 2000-01 season, which included a school-record 27-win season and a trip to the Sweet 16, the deepest NCAA Tournament run in school history.

Barnes received the 2001 SEC Coach of the Year award. After the Sweet 16 appearance, Barnes would have only one other winning season in his remaining years at Ole Miss.

His ride with the Rebels

came to an end following the 2005-06 season when the team lost 13 of its last 14 games.

In 2015, Ole Miss hired four-time Olympian and USA track & field Hall of Fame member Connie Price-Smith as head coach of both the track and field and cross country programs. Since arriving in Oxford, she continues to lead the programs to new heights.

Price-Smith has a number of accomplishments, including six NCAA individual titles, 61 SEC Championships and 122 First or Second-Team All American awards.

In 2018 and 2019, PriceSmith led the Ole Miss men’s cross country team to backto-back SEC titles, the first two SEC titles in program history. She also served as head

coach of team USA’s women’s track and field team in 2016.

Yolett McPhee-McCuin, better known as “Coach Yo,” was named head coach of Ole Miss women’s basketball in 2018.

She has completely turned the program around, and Ole Miss women’s basketball has found a new energy. The 202122 season was a notable success through a 23-win season, 10-6 conference record and trip to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007.

Besides making history with the Rebels, McPhee-McCuin made history of her own following the 2021-22 season by becoming the first woman in Bahamian history to coach at the men’s national level while serving as an assistant

S. Gale Denley Student Media Center

coach for the Bahamas men’s senior national team during the World Cup Qualifiers. McPhee-McCuin was also the first Bahamian woman to sign a Division I letter of intent to play basketball and the first to coach at a Division I program. Subsequently she was inducted into the Bahamian Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016. Her bright personality and tenacious spirit have made a huge impact on the team, program and fans. McPhee-McCuin has one goal for her team: to get them back on the national stage. These men and women have worked hard at Ole Miss to clear the path for fellow Black coaches. They are an inspiration of grit, determination and perseverance to everyone.

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Rob Evans cuts down the net after Ole Miss won the SEC West Championship game in 1997. Evans held an 86-81 record as head coach from 1993-1998.

PHOTO COURTESY: OLE MISS ATHLETICS

‘Coach Yo’ makes a name for herself

Head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin has had a major impact on the women’s basketball program at Ole Miss. The success she and her team have achieved over the past couple of seasons means a lot for the university. And for McPhee-McCuin, it just means a little more.

McPhee-McCuin, known to many as “Coach Yo,” is the first Black female head coach in women’s basketball history that Ole Miss has had the privilege of hiring.

“(Keith Carter) is open-minded and he’s wanted this change, and I guess found a fit in me and it’s completely supported me. I take it seriously because I want to open up the door of opportunities for other people that look like me. I don’t take that lightly,” she said in an interview with Andscape.

She has turned the Ole Miss women’s basketball program around in just a few short years.

Coach McPhee-McCuin signed with Ole Miss in April of 2018, and after some rebuilding years, she has brought this program back.

Before she took the job at Ole Miss, the women’s bas-

ketball team had not made the NCAA tournament since 2007, and now she is primed to lead her squad to back to back March Madness appearances.

Last season she coached the Rebels to a seven seed in March Madness, and her team is near the top of the SEC again this season.

In a state that has a history of racial oppression, and at a university that resisted racial integration when James Meredith became the first Black student to enroll in 1962, McPhee-McCuinwas very aware of what she was walking into.

“I think that one thing I have realized here in just a short amount of time is that no one is running from the history of civil relations or whatever the case may be in the state of Mississippi,” she said to Andscape. “The one thing I know is that Ole Miss and the city of Oxford is intentional and has been intentional about changing that objective. They are loving people. It’s a great place. They’re very inviting. They love everything Ole Miss.”

McPhee-McCuin’s journey to Ole Miss is inspiring.

“…A little girl from the Bahamas who migrated to the United States and is now living the American dream,” McPhee-Mc-

Cuin said to Rebel Walk. “I think that, for a lot of people, that’s just inspiring within itself. I just try to speak from the heart, try not to talk about things that I’m not willing to do myself, and be pretty authentic. I share failures and ac-

complishments. I share both, and I think that’s what allows people to humanize me. … I’m relatable. If I don’t mean it, I don’t say it.”

She has broken down any barrier in her way, and because of this, Athletic Director Keith

Coolidge Ball: breaking Ole Miss athletics’ color barrier

mates realized how he could help the team in a positive way.

History was made at the University of Mississippi in 1970 when Coolidge Ball signed a scholarship to play basketball for the Rebels, making him the first African American student-athlete at the university.

Ball, a native of Indianola, Miss., just two hours south of Oxford, had chosen to attend New Mexico State and signed the school’s scholarship papers. But Ball didn’t sign a national letter of intent because he kept Ole Miss in mind.

In August 1970, Ball decided not to go to New Mexico State and instead signed a national letter of intent to play for the Rebels.

Initially, it was an uncomfortable atmosphere for Ball and his teammates, given that this was the first time the school had had an African American student-athlete. But over time, and as they got to know each other, Ball’s team-

“I’m just trying to feel them out; they’re just trying to feel me out,” Ball said in a 2006 interview with Ole Miss about the first time he practiced with his college teammates. “A lot of them probably never had played with Black (people) before.”

In the same interview, Ball went on to say, “As we talk and as we practice, they (his teammates) said, ‘Wow, this is a tremendous player.’ And that just gave them a lot of respect for me.”

During his three seasons (1971-74) playing for the Ole Miss varsity team as a forward, Ball scored 1,072 points and had 752 rebounds. Ball was named All-SEC second team during the 1971-72 and 1972-73 seasons.

Although he averaged 14.1 points, Ball was better known for his rebounding skills. He averaged 9.9 rebounds per game during his collegiate career, which is the best in school history.

In 1991, Ball was inducted into the Ole Miss Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2005, he was a part of the SEC Basketball Legends class, and three years later he was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.

On May 15, 2021, the university created a statue of Ball, honoring his legacy and the impact he made on the Rebels.

“It’s a beautiful thing,” Ball said during the ceremony. “I’m excited about having a statue. I never dreamed of having one, and I thank the university for it.”

Ole Miss women’s basketball head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin talked about the inspiration Ball created for her.

“He’s inspired even me,” McPhee-McCuin said in an interview with Ole Miss during Ball’s statue dedication. “And the type of legacy that I want to leave for my children and the people that come behind me.”

Ball paved the way for many young African American student-athletes not just in Mis-

sissippi, but also across the country as he broke the color barrier and achieved something that had never been seen

Carter awarded her with a contract extension that goes through 2026. Ole Miss has found its coach of the future; a trailblazing winner will be at the helm of the Ole Miss women’s basketball program for a long time.

Women’s Basketball Head Coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin celebrates during a game against Florida on Feb. 5.

HG BIGGS/THE DAILY MISSISSIPPIAN

before. As Ole Miss’ first African American student athlete, Ball’s legacy will live on forever.

Coolidge Ball plays during a game against Texas on Dec. 7, 1974.

PHOTO COURTESY: THE OLE MISS YEARBOOK

OPINION

his hair in plaits walked into my room, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief. This is a guy who likes the same music as me, comes from a similar background and ultimately understands Black issues. Someone I can be comfortable around and vice versa.

A time when what are trifles today meant all the world to me then. A time when a 500-word essay rubric looked daunting and gave me cold sweats. Dozens of teachers ranging in likeability, but all taught me lessons on life. Many friends made and fewer friendships survived. Years building my character.

I flipped that tassel and took a moment to celebrate my accomplishment. It was time to go to the school up north.

Early in my time on cam

The chances I would land this roommate at a school like Ole Miss? The chances I’d live with a brother? It felt like I hit the roommate lottery. He also was just a respectful roommate all around, shout out to you. I knew we would be on the same page for the most part.

Hard stop: A school like Ole Miss? That was my first mistake; singling and unfairly categorizing the university. It was honest, though. Much of what I had learned about the school was negative history. I mean, the first mention of the class in the curriculum was during my ninth-grade Missis-

blah. It’s something that you wouldn’t know until you’ve seen it for yourself. Words do not do it nearly enough justice. It’s the last time in life that you’re almost exclusively surrounded by people your age. Even that part hasn’t processed for me yet. I’ll write a response to this in 10 years.

What I really did not anticipate was the Black life on campus. It sounds so divisive putting it that way. That’s the reality, though. We don’t sequester ourselves and try to be difficult or anti-social. It’s just, we are attracted to one another. We know each other. We nurture a community together. We share these experiences together.

Being Black on campus has certainly affected and influenced my time at Ole Miss in a positive way. Obviously, there are bumps in the road because the job’s not finished. I know that all too well, serving as the

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from most of what you learn in “typical” history class, as those individuals are long gone. Here in Oxford, you are liable to see Don Cole in Kroger on a random afternoon. These are people who have dedicated their life’s work towards improving the world for future generations.

All of these stories are within arms reach for most students here on campus. Take advantage of the Black history around

you, but not only in February. Take a look back and see how far we’ve come. Celebrate the stories, whether they be positive or negative. Celebrate the students, the staff and everything else that calls for praise. Happy Black History Month!

Justice Rose is the opinion editor from Madison, Mississippi. He is a sophomore journalism major.

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Cut it out: I am NOT my hair

Having 4C texture hair, a descriptor used to determine the tightness of a curl pattern, as a Black woman doesn’t get you welcomed into the natural hair community with open arms.

Ever since I was younger, my mom and dad were set on relaxing my hair. My mom spent her life taking the same route, so the thought of living in natural hair was far beyond what she knew or accepted. Plus, her busy work schedule couldn’t coexist with maintaining natural hair for three daughters. It would’ve been another shift but without pay. Similar to most black fathers, my dad was just going with the flow. After all, he couldn’t really vouch for this area of my life.

A little Bre’Anna always ached for the long, flowy hair she saw on TV. Having no representation in the media didn’t help either. Every Black girl or woman had bouncy, loose curls or long flat ironed hair. I want-

ed the kind of hair that Disney characters, Nickelodeon stars and other child stars all had.

I learned at a young age how important hair was to Black women. If my hair was ugly, I was ugly. If my hair was beautiful, I was beautiful. So even though I hated to see the box of creamy crack (a.k.a. relaxer), all I could think about was how straight and long my hair would be afterward.

My mom wasn’t a fan of natural hair mainly because she wasn’t raised to embrace it. Unless it was my older sister who has looser curls, of course.

In the Black community, those loose curls are considered “good hair.” So, when my sister stepped into her journey of naturalness, she was embraced every step of the way.

I, on the other hand, would propose the idea and be shot down immediately. My “beebees” weren’t cute or appealing. I had “nappy” hair which was a negative connotation I carried for years in relation to my naturalness.

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The first time I held a pair of scissors to my hair was during the COVID-19 quarantine. When my mom walked in on her teenage daughter sitting on the floor crisscrossed and cutting her hair off, her reaction was far from calm or understanding.

That was the day that I began to embrace my naturalness as a young black woman.

Wigs were my best friend as I tested different products and hairstyles for my natural hair. When it hit a certain length, I took pride in my short fro and my kinky curls.

This was until I decided to wear it to work and was smacked with the words, “I like your other hair better.”

The older Black man was adamant in letting me know how unattractive my naturalness was.The worst part is that I never even asked him. He ignorantly gave his opinion where it wasn’t needed.

Hearing those words from my own race, a brother, definitely stung.

Around five months before my freshman year of college, I decided to grow locs and went through the dreaded ugly stage. Locs are strands of hair that have been coiled, braided or palm-rolled into a rope-like appearance. The ugly stage is the awkward stage between shoulder length hair and when your hair is still going through the locking process. Trust me, everyone who went through their loc journey gets it. This was definitely another blow to my confidence. Whenever I saw guys choose other girls over me, I immediately assumed it was because of my hair. Those mind games you play on yourself can really trip you up.

By the time I reached January into my freshman year, my locs thrived and I felt beautiful. However, society tells you that there is a “right” kind of beauty and that natural hair is only acceptable if it fits society’s standards of what beauty is. When my hair grew, I felt like I finally fit into the box of society’s beauty standards for natural hair. I was my natural self but I still fought to feel fulfilled within myself.

Guys would be sure to say how my locs made me “natural” and how I was “different,” but at every corner I turned I saw other people with the same exact style. Women would compliment how beautiful my hair was and how they feared going through the loc process. And while the locs were the natural version of me, that didn’t mean it equated to the most honest and natural ver-

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sion of who I am. So…. exactly how true to myself was I being?

I stepped outside the box that my parents designed for me and still found myself inside of another box, fighting to make my natural hair acceptable.

I convinced myself that I was starting my loc journey to learn how to love my natural hair, but what I was actually telling myself was that I wasn’t beautiful until society deemed me as so. My locs flourished but my confidence wavered; my soul remained timid and seeking validation.

In May 2022, I left home and came back with all of my hair gone. My locs were packed into a zip-lock bag as I flaunted my new style: Finger waves.

I had been debating cutting

off my hair for a while. Every loc that fell made me feel lighter, freer. I finally came to the conclusion that long hair doesn’t make me beautiful. Natural curls aren’t what make me beautiful. My soul is where my beauty is.

My new journey is learning how to love myself genuinely. Not when my hair hits a certain length, not when society sees me as desirable.

Now when I look into the mirror, I see a young woman who doesn’t let her hair define her and as a black woman, that’s a powerful place to be.

Bre’Anna Coleman is a sophomore political science major from Drew, Miss.

Columns do not represent the views of The University of Mississippi or The Daily Mississippian. The Daily Mississippian welcomes letters to the editor, which should be emailed to thedmopinion@ gmail.com. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. They may be edited for clarity, brevity and libel. Third-party letters and those with pseudonyms or no name will not be published. Letters are limited to one per individual per month. Letters should include contact information, including relationship to the university, if applicable.

Bre’Anna Coleman enjoys spending time walking on nature trails around Oxford. She is pictured here on the walking trail behind the University Museum.