The state legislature chartered the “Industrial Institute and College for the Education of White Girls of the State of Mississippi” (II&C) in 1884, becoming the first state-supported women’s college in the country. The II&C became a reality through the efforts of Sallie Reneau, Annie Coleman Peyton, and Olivia Hastings. Reneau was the first advocate for a women’s college and the first woman to lobby the legislature for a woman’s right to education. Peyton submitted petitions, wrote letters to newspapers across the state, and published pamphlets to promote the creation of the college. Peyton later worked with Hastings, who supported women’s education after seeing the long-term effects of the Civil war, to serve on the legislative committee that planned and designed the II&C curriculum. The II&C changed its name to the Mississippi State College for Women in 1920 and the Mississippi University for Women in 1974. MUW continues its leadership mission for women as a coeducational university.