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Fredric is a web developer based in Chicago who hopes to one day start a foundation to support young, Black males in programming and computer science.

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the 5 most racist college nicknames

July 31st, 2007 • Related • Filed Under

i stumbled across an interesting blog post about the ‘history’ of college nicknames in america. if the article is true, and we all know that what you read on the internet needs to be double-checked first, then i learned some neat things, although one of the commenters disagrees.

cleveland indians mascot and othersthe five included were:

  • university of north carolina - tar heels
  • florida state - seminoles
  • university of mexico - lobos
  • indiana university - hoosiers
  • kansas university - jayhawks

(via campussqueeze)

interestingly, it got me thinking about other racist american institutions like aunt jemima pancake syrup (it’s still good, though) and the cleveland indians baseball team mascot (smiling bafoonery).

what do you guys think? can you think of any others?

should these images be retired, or are they a part of our history?

There Are 12 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by ybpreader on 31 July 2007:

    IU Hoosiers is true.

  2. Comment by J. Dakar on 31 July 2007:

    In all honesty, I’ve never thought about possible racism in this respect. This is definitely thought-provoking material.

    Great site, by the way.

  3. Pingback by University Update - Kansas University - the 5 most racist college nicknames on 31 July 2007:

    [...] of Texas Contact the Webmaster Link to Article kansas university the 5 most racist college nicknames » Posted at Young Black [...]

  4. Comment by Erin on 1 August 2007:

    As an alumni of UNC, and a former tour guide/admissions volunteer, I can say that the story they give for UNC is inaccurate.

    http://www.unc.edu/about/traditions.html#tarheel

    That link tells the story of how not only UNC, but the state of NC became known as Tar Heels.

  5. Comment by TexasJayhawk on 1 August 2007:

    That person needs to check their facts about jayhawkers.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayhawker

    There were some jayhawkers who were pro-slavery, but there were also some that were abolitionists.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_H._Lane_(Senator)

    During the Civil War, jayhawkers banded together to repel invasions by Missouri bushwhackers.

  6. Comment by GIB on 1 August 2007:

    i guess history or not, i would be totally offended if there was a “city/state/school name here” Africans team (and an accompanying logo). so, even though i am a seminole and tar heel, and still do the tomahawk chop, it might be time to retire these images and ideas.

  7. Comment by ETS on 1 August 2007:

    I guess this article was bound to get comments given the number of UNC alums connected this site. : )

    I haven’t read the link yet, but what is wrong with the word Tar Heel?

    And GIB, don’t retire your tomahawk chop yet. From what I’ve read, the Seminoles embrace FSU and love having their name used as the mascot. I’m going to look for the link now.

  8. Comment by ETS on 1 August 2007:

    Just checked out the post … it’s really off.

    It’s UNC story is hilariously inaccurate.

    Any look at New Mexico’s official logos will show you they mean the wolf.

    The Jayhawk is a mythical bird.

    Issues with the word Hoosier don’t speak much to views of “white trash,” as much as it does to narrow-minded views of people from Indiana.

    I got this info from Wikipedia, which I read previously in a NYT article:

    FSU was exempt as both the 3,100-member Seminole Tribe of Florida and the 6,000-member Seminole Nation of Oklahoma officially approved the relationship and the details of the images used. The article states, “The Seminoles are the only American Indian tribe never to sign a formal peace treaty with the United States. To celebrate this status, Florida State erected Unconquered, a statue of Chief Osceola outside its football stadium.”

    And honestly, depending on how it was done, I wouldn’t have a problem with a school calling itself the Zulu or the Songhai - especially an inner-city charter school that NEEDS some healthy, royal images to live up to.

  9. Comment by ETS on 1 August 2007:

    correction:

    Issues with the word Hoosier don’t speak much about it’s connection to “white trash,” as much as it does to people’s narrow-minded views about people from Indiana.

  10. Comment by usablackman on 1 August 2007:

    Much of this story is just plain wrong it misses such places like ND fighting Irish, North Dakota Fighting Souix, UCSB Gauchos, UNLV Runnin Rebels as examples.

    My question is why is Aunt Jemima considered racist by some but Flavor of Love is not?

  11. Comment by amanda on 2 November 2008:

    YOU MEANIES! waaaahaaa MOMMMY! GO FUCK URSELF! have a nice day :]

  12. Comment by ami on 16 November 2008:

    The Indians contributed far more than the majority of Africans or Hispanics. They are an example of dignity and self worth. Please do not categorize them with that which makes up half of our prison system.