For anyone who attends Alabama State University, few traditions carry as much glitz and glamour as the crowning of Miss Alabama State University. Each year, the campus gathers in the Dunn-Oliver Acadome during the month of April to witness a coed take the stage in regal fashion, crowned during an elaborate pageant and heralded as the representation of student grace, poise and leadership. But as much as the university community honors the title, it is time to confront what many may believe to be an uncomfortable truth: How many queens have indeed worn the crown?

If one were to listen closely to the pageant that was held two weeks ago, it would appear that junior communications major Sydney Guy is the 86th Miss Alabama State University.  As student journalists who are majoring in media (digital, print, broadcast or outdoor/transit), communications professors and instructors teach students to research and validate all information before it is printed so that they are not faced with libel charges. Therefore, this editorial board decided to look at the history of the program to ensure that the number 86 is the correct number for the current queen.

And what are the findings of this editorial board?

If someone at the university decided to use basic subtraction, calculating from the time the program began in 1939 to the year 2025, that number is 86. So the program has been in existence for 86 years, but does that mean the university has crowned 86 queens for the duration of the entire program?

A search of the Levi Watkins Learning Center digital archives noted that the first Miss Alabama State University (Grace Moore) held the title from 1939 to 1940.  There was no titleholder for the next year (1940-41).  In 1941-42, there was a titleholder named (Sarah Green). However, after Green, and for the next seven academic years of  (42-43, 43-44, 44-45, 45-46, 46-47, 47-48 and 48-49) there is no record of the university having a titleholder until 1949-50 (Robbie McKinney). It also appears that the academic year after McKinney, 1950-51, there is no record of representation. Therefore, this staff ascertained that the university went a total of eight years without representation.

So while the program may have been in existence 86 years, it appears that the university has not crowned 86 queens.  If some historians have done more in-depth research and are privy to information that this editorial board has not been privy to, this editorial board asks them to step forward and please inform this staff.  The Hornet Tribune Editorial Board will be the first to correct its errors.

In the book “From Marion to Montgomery,” written by historian Joseph Caver, he discovered, while researching his master’s thesis, that nine Black men from the Marion, Alabama community filed incorporation papers on July 18, 1867 “for the purpose of establishing and owning a “corporation” for “educating colored children.”  They named it “The Lincoln School of Marion.”  He also learned that the Lincoln School of Marion was the predecessor of Alabama State University.  He found that ownership of Lincoln was transferred to the State of Alabama, and the school opened in 1874 as the public institution that is now Alabama State University.

Then he realized that 1874 was the date of the school’s becoming state-supported, not the date of its actual founding, and that the centennial commemoration that he had just celebrated as a senior history major should have occurred in 1967 instead of 1974.  In other words, we celebrated the first centennial seven years late because no one, prior to Caver, had checked the accuracy of the university’s history and made this truth public until he came along with his thesis in 1983.

Therefore, it is time to set the record straight.  The significance of historical accuracy cannot be overstated, as it plays a crucial role in our ability to discern the truth, make informed decisions, and maintain the integrity of our collective memory.

The Hornet Tribune, the first historically Black college official student newspaper, prides itself on truth and ethics, and will not continue to advance this misinformation of having 86 titleholders instead of 78 titleholders unless someone can dispute this research with facts.