UM Women's History Month 2021
To celebrate this year’s Women’s History Month, we want to highlight the women who have played a historic role in shaping the University of Mississippi. Women were not always allowed to attend the University, but that doesn’t mean women were not present on campus. Since the University opened in 1848, the contributions of women, both acknowledged and unacknowledged, have propelled the University and its surrounding community forward. We dedicate this month to celebrating their achievements, understanding their challenges, and commemorating trailblazers at the University of Mississippi.
March 1 - The Enslaved Women who worked at the University from 1848-1865
The University of Mississippi Carriage House and an (assumed) enslaved woman. Courtesy of University of Mississippi Department of Archives and Special Collections.
To begin, we want to recognize the enslaved women who worked at the university from its opening in 1848 through the end of slavery in the United States. While most of their names have been lost to history, we seek to honor their memory and forced contributions to our university. We are thankful for the UM Slavery Research Group for their hard work to uncover their stories.
To learn more about the UM Slavery Research Group, visit: slaveryresearchgroup.olemiss.edu
March 3 - Julia Wilcox
Today, we want to highlight Julia Wilcox, the University of Mississippi’s first full-time woman employee. Wilcox was hired as the university’s first librarian in July of 1884, one year before the first female faculty member Sarah McGehee Isom was hired. Within three years, she increased the size of the library to 12,000 volumes. At the time Wilcox served as librarian, the library was still housed in the Lyceum.
March 5 - Sallie Vick Hill
An Oxford native, Sallie Vick Hill was among the first class of women students at the University of Mississippi in 1882. While skeptics of coeducation doubted that women could “sustain long and intricate trains of thought,” Hill proved that women students were more than capable when she was named valedictorian of the first class to include women in 1885. After graduation, Hill became an inaugural professor of Physics and Chemistry at the Industrial Institute and College (II&C) in Columbus, now the Mississippi University for Women. She was also the treasurer and believed to be a founding member of the Mississippi Women’s Legion of Industry, an organization created to “perpetuate the close and binding ties formed in this Institution, and feeling the necessity of mutual aid in our life-work” in 1886.
A special thanks to Victoria Jones, Archives and Special Collections Librarian at the Mississippi University for Women, for helping us find out more about Prof. Hill’s time at II&C.
March 8 - Lucy Somerville Howorth
On this International Women’s Day, we recognize Mississippi native Lucy Somerville Howorth (1895-1997), a lawyer, politician, and feminist torchbearer. The daughter of suffragist Nellie Nugent Somerville, Howorth was immersed in the women’s rights movement from childhood and witnessed the ratification of the 19th Amendment in the Tennessee legislature. After graduating at the top of her law school class at the University of Mississippi, Howorth launched a successful law practice and was appointed as a commissioner of a federal district. Her mother was the first woman elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives, and Lucy was herself elected to the state legislature in 1932, making the women the second mother-daughter pair elected to a state legislature in the United States. Howorth was appointed to the Board of Veterans Appeals and War Claims Commission by Franklin D. Roosevelt and went on to serve appointments under Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy. After retiring from government work, Howorth continued to practice law, remained active in many prominent women’s organizations, and persisted in the fight for civil rights for women and minorities. We are especially indebted to Howorth’s tenacious support of the Sarah Isom Center for the survival of women and gender studies at the University of Mississippi.
March 10 - Maralyn Howell Bullion
Today we acknowledge Maralyn Howell Bullion, the first woman president of the university’s Associated Student Body. Elected in 1944, Bullion—like many other women during WWII—took on a leadership role traditionally held by men.
March 12 - Mary Ann Mobley Collins
Today we recognize acclaimed actress, filmmaker, and former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley Collins. A native of Brandon, she was the university’s first Carrier Scholar and later became the first woman voted into the Alumni Hall of Fame. After her reign ended, she went on to become one of the most successful Miss Americas starring on Broadway, film, and television. She co-starred in two Elvis Presley movies and on dozens of popular television series from the 1960s to the 1990s. She also built a respected career as a documentary filmmaker, traveling internationally to produce films about the impact of war on children. She was actively involved in raising money and awareness for both the March of Dimes and the United Cerebral Palsy Association. While she lived most of her adult life in California, she remained dedicated to Mississippi and the University, returning often to lend her name and talents to philanthropic endeavors including supporting the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts and Mississippi Rising, the 2005 telethon to raise funds for Katrina-ravaged Mississippi.
March 15 - Constance Slaughter-Harvey
Today we recognize Constance Slaughter-Harvey, the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Mississippi law school and the first Black woman judge in the state of Mississippi. As a lawyer, Slaughter-Harvey was instrumental in integrating the Mississippi Highway Patrol and frequently took on cases involving police brutality and civil rights violations. The Black Law Student Association at UM's School of Law is named in her honor. After retiring from practicing law in 2011, Slaughter-Harvey founded the Legacy Education and Community Empowerment Foundation, a community education program that serves rural Mississippians.
March 17 - Rose Jackson Flenorl
Today we celebrate Rose Jackson Flenorl, the first Black woman inducted into the University of Mississippi’s student Hall of Fame. As a student, she served as president of the Association of Women Students and sat on the committee that recommended the creation of the Isom Center. Flenorl has played an invaluable role in recruiting and serving the needs of minority students at the university and was instrumental in creating the FedEx Student-Athlete Success Center. She has served as both president of the Alumni Association and board chair of the University of Mississippi foundation. She continues to be a force on campus and can often be found guest lecturing, mentoring students, and participating in other forms of volunteer service.
March 19 - Jaz Brisack
Today we’re featuring Jaz Brisack, the University of Mississippi’s first woman Rhodes Scholar. Jaz was a student in the honors college and a Truman Scholarship recipient. As a student at UM, Brisack played an active role in struggling for progress on campus and across the state of Mississippi. She served as president of the university’s College Democrats, was a member of local activist group Wise Women of Oxford, worked as a labor organizer for United Auto Workers’ union campaign at the Canton Nissan plant, and volunteered with Pink House Defenders as an escort at Mississippi’s only abortion clinic, Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Jaz has continued to fight for working people as a labor organizer with Workers United.
March 22 - Mamie Franks
Dr. Mamie Franks was one of the first women to crack through the University of Mississippi’s glass ceiling when she became the first female registrar in 1975.
A survivor of domestic violence, Franks divorced her abusive husband and moved with her two children to Oxford. She enrolled in the UM Graduate School, where she earned master’s and doctoral degrees in education and higher educational leadership. She began her career at UM in the Student Counseling Center and was in line to become the Dean of Women in 1968; however, the powers that be at the time felt that a divorcee would not be a "good example" for students, even if she had divorced to protect herself and her children.
Instead of becoming Dean of Women, Franks transferred to the Registrar's office as an associate registrar and was eventually offered the job of registrar, becoming the first woman in a senior leadership role not specifically for women. A former president of the Southern Registrars Association, Franks was recognized nationally for her effectiveness in administration. Franks’ office was primarily staffed with women, whom she was known to treat as equals rather than subordinates. Franks served as a mentor to staff members and students alike, using her role as an administrator to create as many opportunities for others as possible.
March 24 - Tonya Flesher
Today we recognize Dr. Tonya Flesher, the first woman to serve as a dean at the University of Mississippi. Dr. Flesher served as Dean of the School of Accountancy from 1987 to 1993, a time when accounting was very much a male-dominated field. As Dean, Flesher juggled the difficulties of becoming a first-time parent while steering the fledgling School of Accountancy. She taught at the university for a total of 40 years before retiring in May of 2017. During her time as a faculty member, Dr. Flesher was named the Elsie M. Hood Outstanding Teacher of the Year in 2003 and served as president of the Academy of Accounting Historians.
March 29 - Gloria Kellum
Today we recognize Dr. Gloria Kellum, the first woman to achieve the rank of vice chancellor at the University of Mississippi. Named vice chancellor in 1998, Kellum was one of only a few women to have served in a leadership role in the university’s 150 years.
As Vice Chancellor of University Relations, she chaired UM’s sesquicentennial celebration, directed two major fundraising campaigns, and played an important role in developing the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation and in the construction of the university’s first civil rights monument. As a faculty member, Kellum began teaching at UM in 1966 and helped grow a small speech pathology and audiology program into a nationally accredited educational and clinical program. In 1975, she became the first woman and youngest faculty member to receive the Elsie M. Hood Outstanding Teaching Award. A founding member of the UM Women’s Council, Kellum has been a longtime advocate and mentor for women at the university and beyond.
March 31 - Katrina Caldwell
On this last day of Women’s History Month, we recognize Dr. Katrina Caldwell, the first Black woman to serve as vice chancellor at the University of Mississippi. Caldwell joined the university in 2017 as the first vice chancellor for diversity and community engagement. Caldwell credits her passion for diversity and social justice work to her undergraduate education at Spelman College, a historically black women’s college where many of her professors weaved their experiences in the social movements of the 1960s and ’70s into their teaching and research. With this foundation, Dr. Caldwell has since earned three degrees in English literature and over 25 years of experience advancing diversity and equity in higher education. While at UM, Caldwell helped the university secure the Carnegie Foundation’s Classification for Community Engagement classification and developed a strategic diversity framework for the university. Dr. Caldwell now serves as the Vice Provost of Diversity and Inclusion and the Chief Diversity Officer at John Hopkins University.