First Black Cheerleader

John Hawkins becomes the first African American cheerleader at Ole Miss. During the summer of that year, he announced in an interview that he would not carry the confederate flag during a game. Hawkins\u27s refusal to carry the flag incited a heated debate, and the controversy intensified when the head football coach suggested that the university should add UM or Ole Miss to the confederate flag. The university considered using the state flag, but a number of students and alumni protested. In response, college officials agreed to have only one student carry the flag. During the controversy, the Ku Klux Klan held a rally in Oxford in support of the flag, and around 30 Klan members marched to the town square carrying confederate flags before nearly 450 onlookers. By the end of March, 1983, Hawkins decided he would not try out for the following year\u27s cheerleading squad.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/afram_timeline/1024/thumbnail.jp