First African-American Homecoming Queen Crowned at University of Mississippi

Commander Kerri Pearson & Courtney Pearson Homecoming Queen

 

 

 

In September, Courtney Pearson of Memphis, TN became the first
African- American to be elected as Homecoming Queen at the University of Mississippi .
Courtney won in a run-off vote, receiving 1,477 votes, compared to 1,387 ballots cast for Ashleigh Davis of Gulfport, MS.

Pearson wants to inspire other African-Americans to believe in themselves.

“I feel like it’s an inspiration for others to be like, there’s nothing that can hold me back, not my race, not my greekness, or my non-greekness – whatever it is that I want to do, I can do it. Now the students are saying ‘Not only do we want you to attend, we want you to represent us at a whole and go and show the whole world what we’re about and what we represent.”

The 21-year-old senior English secondary education major was escorted by her father Commander Kerri Pearson during halftime of the NCAA college football game between Ole Miss and Auburn in Oxford, Miss., on Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012.