Why is it important? Why the U of A?
"We must recognize ‘Dixie’ as a symbol of a condition that needs to be changed. There must be a further commitment to finding problems and ending them. Reform must not end with ‘Dixie.’”
--Joe Neal from article, "Joe Neal on 'Dixie' Issue" |
For some, stopping Dixie may not seem like a major accomplishment, but there are schools and universities that still play Dixie to this day. In fact, a high school near the university continues to play Dixie. We look at this school and other schools and wonder why Dixie was able to be stopped at the University of Arkansas but not this school over 40 years after it was played for the last time there.
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There are many factors that enabled the University of Arkansas to stop playing Dixie:
The efforts of Black Americans for Democracy, the Student Senate vote, Dr. Worthington’s decision to abide by the decision of an official voting body, and Janzen’s decision to uphold the stopping of Dixie were the ultimate factors.
The time period was right. Vietnam, peace, and Civil Rights protests were common. Black Power was fighting for their rights after the Civil Rights Act was passed.
Fayetteville is not in the Deep South and does not always follow Deep South traditions.
"I didn't like it. I thought Dixie was a bad name. I was trying to get Arkansas separated from Dixie. I've always thought, at least, as long as I've been fairly mature, that Arkansas was different from the other states of the south. Mainly because of its location. By being across the Mississippi River, it was not far enough to be west. By
being close to Missouri and Kansas and so forth, it has many qualities of the Midwest. And the northern portion, the Ozark mountains, et cetera, are completely different in culture from the Delta." --Gordon Morgan, first black faculty member at the University of Arkansas |
"The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville is… in the very farthest flung corner of the south…It’s in the northwest part of Arkansas and it borders the west and the Midwest, so it’s removed from many of those kind of deep south areas where race relations were much more fraught with tension and there were larger groups of African Americans. The African American population in that part of the state was pretty small and therefore there were ways in which racial issues could be addressed and historically were addressed further in advance of many other parts of the state… Fayetteville and Charleston which is close by were the only two school districts in Arkansas who had actually made moves to desegregate…Fayetteville’s racial history shows in many ways ahead of the rest of the south partly because it was left on the fringes of the south and those issues were less polarizing than many other places particularly places like Mississippi and Alabama."
--Dr. John Kirk, Professor of History, University of Arkansas at Little Rock |
Communication was encouraged on campus.
Zinke to Donner: "Do you remember when he set up that lecture, and you go why are you setting up that lecture? He set up that lecture because of what happened in Ohio. Do you remember that? And PennState. And he was determined that nobody was gonna get hurt on this campus. And his...take on it was that the reason that they had Penn State was those kids didn't have freedom of speech. Now this is what Mullins thought. So he thought, freedom of speech, we're gonna give them freedom of speech. And he put that…out..."
Donner to Zinke: "It'll defuse them, yep."
Zinke to Donner: "And if you'll remember, those kids were still talking at four o'clock in the morning. (laugh)There was nobody out in front, but they were talking. And it did just exactly what it was supposed to do."
Donner to Zinke: "I remember with BAD, we'd go in and stomp in, to Mullins office, and go we're here, we're gonna make changes, we ain't gonna leave. And he'd go okay, guys, any of you want refreshments? He was the coolest guy."
--Interveiw with Don Donner, 1969 student and peace activist, and Dr. Richard Zinke, 1969 faculty advisor
Donner to Zinke: "It'll defuse them, yep."
Zinke to Donner: "And if you'll remember, those kids were still talking at four o'clock in the morning. (laugh)There was nobody out in front, but they were talking. And it did just exactly what it was supposed to do."
Donner to Zinke: "I remember with BAD, we'd go in and stomp in, to Mullins office, and go we're here, we're gonna make changes, we ain't gonna leave. And he'd go okay, guys, any of you want refreshments? He was the coolest guy."
--Interveiw with Don Donner, 1969 student and peace activist, and Dr. Richard Zinke, 1969 faculty advisor
President Nixon and the media coming to the game gave black students their chance to be heard.
"Well, the plans of course began during the beginning of the 69th school year, when we all, when school convened. And we were just thinking of ways to continue our demonstrations. To, you know, break down some of the segregated barriers that existed on campus….Well, we wanted to make the greatest impact. And, of course, the greatest impact, and of course, we didn't know at the beginning of the season that Arkansas and Texas would both be undefeated going into the game. And so we determined that if there was a great impact, that certainly would be it, on National Television then we found out of course that Nixon would be, President Nixon would attending along with other dignitaries and so that, so that was our opportunity."
--Hiram McBeth, black football player at the University of Arkansas from 1969 to 1971
--Hiram McBeth, black football player at the University of Arkansas from 1969 to 1971
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Copyright Zoe Tollette and Samantha Fish 2012