The university's history

The Kudzu Kids wrote up a brief look at the history of the University of Mississippi:

The Lyceum building with James Meredith statue in foreground
The Lyceum @ Ole Miss
Breaking Barriers 2 by J R Gordon
is licensed under CC BY 2.0

The University of Mississippi was founded in 1844. It is known by the nickname Ole Miss.

Ole Miss was one of the first in the South to admit women, in 1882, and in 1885 it was the first to hire a female faculty member.

However, here is something that sucks. They didn't allow African-Americans at Ole Miss until James Meredith came here in 1962.

The building pictured is the Lyceum (pronounced Lie-SEE-um), which was completed in 1848. The original Lyceum, in ancient Athens, was known as the place where Aristotle taught. During the Civil War, the Lyceum was used by General Shegog as a hospital.

The doors to the Lyceum are massive. They stand about 12 feet high.

University legend says that the large doors were intentionally designed to discourage students from riding their horses through the building. They are just as strict today — they'll kick you out for even thinking about wearing roller-blades.

Take a virtual tour of the Lyceum courtesy of the University of Mississippi.