Chester Brewer, “Father” of Mizzou’s Homecoming, is NOT someone we should be celebrating

Every year at the University of Missouri-Columbia, the campus is oozing black, gold, and white for Homecoming in mid-to-late October. Preparations are made for events and games hosted by the Missouri Students Association (MSA), Greek organizations, and others. In the early morning hours on Saturday, music is blasting from the annual parade that wakes everyone who lives downtown out of their sleep. The rumbles and cheers from the game can be heard from blocks away with the crowd chanting “M-I-Z”, “Z-O-U.” There are tailgates up and down every street in the surrounding area and on campus.

These events wouldn’t have been possible without Chester Brewer, former football player and Athletic Director at the university in the early 1900s. He has a cardboard cut out in the school’s recreation center about him being the “Father of Homecoming,” a tradition that has been going strong since 1911.  

However, there is one very important thing about this man that has been swept under the rug and disregarded by the university: he is racist.

Letters from Iowa State and Mizzou

Let’s take it back to the 1920s. 

Sports leagues from the professionals down to the collegiate level had a gentlemen’s agreement: a racist practice that prevented players of color from participating in their sport of choice. If they were able to get in the game at all, they were subjected to extra hostility from the opposing team and even their fans who would go as far as throw things at them. 

In particular, Black players would be “roughed around” more than their white counterparts–opponents purposely tried to harm them in most cases. Misconducts that would be considered fouls weren’t called on when it came to Black players being hurt, but Black players would rack up fouls for relatively minor offenses.

This brings us to Iowa State player Jack Trice. Trice was a Black football player who died due to injuries he sustained during a game against Mizzou in October of 1923. Chester Brewer sent a letter to Professor Samuel W. Beyer of Iowa State at the time that Trice was not to play in their upcoming game against MU and that a “colored man” was not permitted to be on the field let alone come to the university.

Beyer writes a letter back citing the “gentlemen’s agreement” verbatim and that it shouldn’t be an issue due to Trice’s untimely death. Beyer even admits that they had no plans to use Trice in the game at all.

Fast forward 100 years since those letters were written, roughly 60% of MU’s football team this season is Black. If it were up to Chester Brewer, most of the team today would not play a single game if they were lucky enough to make the team at all. 

How is the university going to commemorate someone who wouldn’t even bat an eye at the players who bring the university millions of dollars year after year? Someone who wouldn’t even let them make the team if it was up to him?

Once Black students were admitted into the university, immediately there was a need to create a community where Black students were able to connect and lean on each other in times of need due to the racism that plagued the campus and still does today.

Black Homecoming: For Black Students by Black Students

Black students weren’t admitted into Mizzou until 1950. 

The creation of Black Homecoming for Black Mizzou students stems from the racism that surrounded the schoolwide Homecoming. Black students weren’t welcomed into participating in the typical Homecoming festivities and created their own. 

The Legion of Black Collegians (LBC), the first and only Black student-run government in the country, put together Homecoming activities and collaborated with other Black organizations on campus year after year. This school year was the first time they hosted a tailgate catered towards Black students.

Every year, the Divine Nine Greek organizations and predominantly Black dance teams on campus compete in the annual step show. Black students create their own culture representing their cities and alumni representing their Greek letter organizations. There is also a LBC Homecoming Court where students can vote for who they want for Homecoming King and Queen. Then, there’s the annual Noir event where students put on their best suits and dresses and live it up for the night.

However, the creation of Black Homecoming didn’t curb the racism that washed over the university. In 2015, a series of Concerned Student protests occurred–ironically enough, around Homecoming–when then MSA President Payton Head was filmed and called racist slurs in front of the school’s recreation center. 

This prompted protests and a hunger strike. The then UM System President Tim Wolfe’s car was stopped during the Homecoming Parade, and he was caught on camera gaslighting those who took part in the hunger strike when asked about systemic oppression. It took the football team, mostly made up of Black players, threatening not to play for the university to take action and call for Wolfe’s resignation. 

Despite all these efforts, Black students still face a variety of racial struggles on campus. Let’s not forget Megan Miller’s comments about “n*ggers” being killed which only happened a little over a year ago. There was also a truck full of young white boys calling Black students racial slurs in the fall 2021 and spring 2022 semesters. 

Black Homecoming wouldn’t be possible without LBC and the racism that prevented Black students from taking part in the schoolwide Homecoming, where Black students are faced with creating their own spaces to find comfort. 

We have to condemn racism then, now, and forever. Chester Brewer should be left in the 1920s where he belongs.

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