Master of Fine Arts in Visual Art

Ratliff Hall’s spacious basement served as the birthplace of the Mississippi College Art Department in the 1950s.

The Art Department’s initial home made perfect sense given the austere budget at the time for the small Baptist college in Clinton. Constructed in 1913, Ratliff Hall played a vital role as an Mississippi College dormitory for decades; but it also became the campus residence of a couple of young dorm “parents,” Sam Gore and his wife, Margie.

Following graduation from the Atlanta College of Art, and completion of his bachelor’s degree at Mississippi College in 1952, Sam and Margie Gore, the school nurse, served as resident counselors at Ratliff Hall. The Gores lived in the dorm for five years. A year earlier, in 1951, Sam Gore became Mississippi College’s first full-time art instructor when academic dean Dr. Howard Spell hired him.