One of the few remaining ties to the Confederacy at one SEC school is coming to an end.
Ole Miss announced Friday that its marching band, called “The Pride of the South,” will no longer play “Dixie” as part of its football game-day playlist. Conversations on banning the song, which originated in the blackface minstrel shows of the 1850s, began a year ago.
The Oxford Eagle writes that “a dialogue began in 2015 with campus leadership regarding ‘Dixie,’ resulting in a slight adjustment last season by not playing it during the game.”
“The newly expanded and renovated Vaught-Hemingway Stadium will further highlight our best traditions and create new ones that give the Ole Miss Rebels the best home field advantage in college football,” Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork said in a statement. “Because the Pride of the South is such a large part of our overall experience and tradition, the Athletics Department asked them to create a new and modern pregame show that does not include Dixie and is more inclusive for all fans.”
The move to ban “Dixie” comes more than a decade after the university phased out and ultimately ditched Colonel Reb as the school’s mascot, replacing it in 2010 with the “Rebel Black Bear.”
