Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith is under scrutiny for attending a private academy established so white parents could avoid sending their children to integrated schools, according to a new report.
Hyde-Smith, a Republican who is seeking re-election next week in a runoff contest against Democratic opponent Rep. Mike Espy, is facing questions about her time at the Lawrence County Academy in the 1970s after the Jackson Free Press published a yearbook photo Friday of her posing with her school’s mascot, a Confederate general holding a Confederate flag. The newspaper reported that Hyde-Smith does not often mention her connection to the academy.
As of Saturday, Hyde-Smith’s campaign had yet to respond to inquiries over the image.
The photo, given to the Jackson Free Press by another former student of the academy, follows Hyde-Smith joking at a campaign event this month about how she would attend “a public hanging” in “the front row.” Her comments, caught on a now-viral video, came as she vies with Espy, a black former congressman and Clinton-era agriculture secretary, to retain her Senate seat representing Mississippi, a state in which lynchings were once prevalent. It took more than a week for Hyde-Smith to dismiss complaints about the video, saying criticism she had received was “ridiculous” because the phrase was an “expression of regard” for a supporter.
The Nov. 27 runoff will be historic for Mississippi no matter who wins. Hyde-Smith became the first woman to represent the state in Congress when she was appointed by Gov. Phil Bryant to replace GOP Sen. Thad Cochran after he had to resign in April over health concerns. If Espy prevails, he will be Mississippi’s first black senator since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era.
