THE
Daily
MISSISSIPPIAN theDMonline.com
Wednesday September 18, 2019
Volume 108, No. 10
Runoff ready
Board approves lynching memorial
Dorm mischief floods Deaton
KENNETH NIEMEYER
DAVID BALLOWE
A mob hanged Harris Tunstal behind the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1885. Will McGregory was shot on the courthouse lawn in 1890. William Chandler was hanged from a telegraph pole in 1895. The three African American men were among seven local lynching victims who may soon be memorialized on the courthouse lawn. The Lafayette County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 on Monday to approve language for a marker that would be placed on county land in the center of the Square. If accepted by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, it will be unveiled on Nov. 17. The marker would be located near the monument honoring Confederate soldiers, which was erected in 1907 by the United Confederate Veterans. Lydia Koltai, a member of the Steering Committee for Lynching Memorialization in Lafayette County, a community organization, said memorialization markers are important because they help the community see parts of its history that sometimes go unnoticed. “Oxford has been really good at telling one story about itself for a long time now, and we’re coming into a time of, I think, telling the more full story of our history,” Koltai said. “And I think that’s important for the community to see as a way to move forward and heal from things that haven’t ever been dealt with.” Last year, a marker was erected on the corner of North Lamar Boulevard and Molly Barr Road in memory of Elwood Higginbotham, Oxford’s last known lynching victim. Both markers were funded by the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing legal defense to individuals on death row since
Students living in Deaton Hall were forced out of their dorm rooms early Sunday morning because of heavy flooding caused by a stray lacrosse ball toss. What started as typical dorm shenanigans quickly escalated as a group of students tossing a lacrosse ball in the hallway clipped a sprinkler head on the fourth floor, causing it to burst open and spray water across the hall. The student who threw the ball said that as soon as it hit the ceiling, four tiles immediately started leaking and water poured onto the floor and down the stairs. On estimate, a single sprinkler emits 8-24 gallons of water per minute according to the People’s Burn Foundation, a nonprofit educating students on fire safety. Oxford Fire Department Deputy Chief Adam Patton said the fire department had the situation under control within an hour, and once his officers had assisted University Facility Management with shutting off the water, they left the scene. According to residents, the flooding started around 12:30 a.m. and was accompanied by a fire alarm. The water flowing from the sprinkler quickly spread across Deaton Hall, soaking rooms, rugs and drywall, as well as students’ personal property. “It went off at 12:30 (a.m.), and then we had to all evacuate, you know, people were in boxers and stuff across the street,” Deaton Hall resident Jared Grover said. “They told us we couldn’t get in originally that night, so then we waited around for two hours.”
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BILLY SCHUERMAN / THE DAILY MISSISSIPPIAN
NANCY MONROE / THE DAILY MISSISSIPPIAN
Top: Will West celebrates the announcement that he is in the runoff election for Mr. Ole Miss. West received 19.8% of the vote. Bottom: Stefano Subauste celebrates the announcement that he is in the runoff election for Mr. Ole Miss. Subauste received 17.9% of the vote. 1994. EJI regularly donates lynching memorials in partnership with community members in areas all over the South. According to the EJI website, EJI has documented 4084 racial terror lynchings in 12 southern states from 1877 to 1950. April Grayson, director of community building at the William Winter Institute and Steering Committee member, said the committee chose the courthouse lawn as the site for its next marker because of the history of the location. “The courthouse lawn specifically in Lafayette County is significant because one of the seven lynchings actually took place on the courthouse lawn, and at least one
I think that’s important for the community to see as a way to move forward and heal from things that haven’t ever been dealt with.” - Lydia Koltai Steering Committee member
more was in sight of that space, but historically many lynchings took place on courthouse lawns across the South and other parts of the country,” Grayson said. Lawson Patton was shot and hanged on the grounds of the
Lafayette County Courthouse in 1908 after being accused of the murder of a white woman. Grayson also said that the Steering Committee is hoping to install markers for every known lynching victim in Oxford, but they’re still going to do as much research as they can into each victim and trying to find possible descendents in the area. Darren Grem, associate professor of history and Southern studies and former member of the Steering Committee, said the Higginbotham marker did more for the community than memorialization. It provided Higginbotham’s family with answers.
SEE LYNCHING PAGE 8
SEE FLOODING PAGE 8
REBELS CLIMB THE PRESEASON RANKINGS
‘CROSSING BORDERS’: SARAHFEST SHOWCASES UNKNOWN HISTORY
Rebel tennis is primed for another impressive fall as both the men’s and women’s teams return impact players and welcome new faces looking to take the competition to a new level.
“I love it when I find somebody amazing that nobody’s heard of, and you can kind of bring them back to life and share their story,” artist Lee Harper said.
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