Plaques at Ole Miss acknowledge historic ties to slavery
Published 1:14 pm Monday, March 5, 2018
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The University of Mississippi is acknowledging its historical connections to slave labor, slave owners and officials who set policies that stripped African-Americans of voting rights after the Civil War.
The university on Friday unveiled six plaques on its main campus in Oxford to provide information about the history of the school, which was founded in 1848.
One plaque says 10 of the university’s original buildings were constructed with slave labor. Three of the buildings, including the university’s main administrative center, are still in use.
The university started an effort in 2014 to provide historical context on the campus that was rocked by violence after court-ordered integration in 1962. In 2016, the school added a plaque to provide information about slavery to a Confederate soldier statue that’s been on campus since 1906.