Deputy Editor Nate Schumann wishes the Mississippi Free Press a happy fourth “birthday” and thanks the nonprofit’s readership for its support.
The city of Natchez’ centuries-old historic homes, and the wealth behind their construction, came at tremendous human cost, with the city’s prosperity built upon the backs of enslaved Black Americans.
For 126 years, a banner based upon the Confederacy’s first national flag and the Confederate battle flag waved atop poles and government buildings, reminding residents of the Blackest state in the nation that white supremacy still ruled in Mississippi.
Mississippi has voted to end a Jim Crow-era constitutional provision intended to dilute the Black vote and ensure white voters would be able to choose governors and other statewide officials. It created an electoral college-like system requiring candidates for statewide office to win, not only the popular vote, but also a majority of Mississippi House districts.
A large majority of Mississippians have voted to adopt a new state flag, affirming the Legislature’s decision to retire the Confederate-themed 1894 version. While some votes are outstanding, there is no sign they would change the result.
A red, gold and blue design featuring a magnolia at its center could be Mississippi’s new flag if voters approve it in November. After reviewing hundreds of possible options, the Mississippi Flag Commission selected the “New Magnolia” design today.
‘We want to love this campus just as much as everyone else’: Two top Black student leaders say every stakeholder of the University of Mississippi needs training in diversity, equity and inclusion—and that the administration must start being publicly transparent about both problems and solutions underway.
Arielle Hudson, UM’s first Black woman Rhodes Scholar, says an MFP investigation reveals just how much work on systemic racism the university has yet to do. So far, she writes, the response is inadequate.
UM Emails Part II: In late 2018, a number of University of Mississippi officials struggled to strike a balance between empathizing with aggrieved wealthy white donors who clung to the Ole Miss of yore and responding to a UM faculty and student body that, overall, felt the school was not moving fast enough into the future.
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The Mississippi Free Press is a project of the Mississippi Journalism and Education Group, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit journalism organization (EIN 85-1403937).
