- At least five schools in Midwest cities use “midget” as part of their names.
- Advocates are working to end the use of the word, which they say is a derogatory insult to little people.
- Schools that won't drop the term say it's not meant to be offensive and is part of their history.
Debates over the use of mascot names and images deemed offensive have often grabbed national headlines, but one element of that debate is garnering far less attention.
The word “small-headed,” used to describe people of short stature, is still used as a school mascot in at least five Midwestern cities, despite efforts by advocates to end its use.
“It's not a way to refer to a person with dwarfism. It's a derogatory insult,” said Michelle Kraus, director of public relations for Little People of America.
The LPA, a nonprofit organization that provides support for people with short stature and their families, has long pushed to end the use of the word, even as a mascot. Representatives of the organization met with schools that use the term, but this did not always result in changes.
Now, as more schools ditch Native American mascots and after last summer's reckoning with racial disparity, the LPA hopes its continued advocacy will be met by communities more receptive to change now than in the past.
The M word
The word “midget,” or the M word, is considered a derogatory insult that should never be used, according to the LPA, whose 8,000 members include petites and people of average height. ONE overview the group found that 90% of its members believed that the word should never be used in relation to a person with dwarfism.
“The dwarfism community has expressed a preference to be referred to as dwarfs, little people, short or dwarfed, or simply, and preferably, by their first name,” the group says.
Kraus said she thinks many people may not know the word is considered an offensive slur, so part of the group's mission is to educate the public about the term. Prior to an investigation by Insider, even Google's definition of the M-word did not clearly describe it as offensive, as it does when searching for the N-word. After Insider asked about it, Google added a “often offensive” tag to top of the definition.
The LPA said the word was never an official term for people with dwarfism, but was coined in performance venues when the little people were exhibited for “curiosity and sport”.
5 schools in the Midwest still use the name for their mascots
At least five schools or school districts still use the word as part of their names: Dickinson High School in North Dakota, Freeburg Community High School in Illinois, Butternut Schools in Wisconsin, Estherville Lincoln Central in Iowa, and Putnam County Schools in Missouri.
None of the schools and districts are quite sure how they came to use the M-word as part of their mascot identifiers, but some have an idea. In the case of Butternut, a world champion wrestler, Charlie Fisher, he grew up there and was nicknamed “small-headed” because of his small size. The mascot came to be used as a tribute to the hometown hero, prompting the school to take issue with the LPA labeling it offensive.
Freeburg Community High School website, www.fchs77.org
Other schools believe they adopted the nickname in the early 1900s because the physical height among the members of their basketball teams was shorter. In Freeburg, legend has it that a local sportswriter dubbed the team “the Littles” after a particularly lopsided game, causing the nickname to stick.
“It was a good picture, but it didn't change anything”
The LPA has made in-person visits to schools to advocate for change, though the pandemic has put some of those efforts on hold. In 2015, the LPA visited Freeburg and held a press conference where they delivered a petition with over 2,000 signatures urging the school to change their mascot.
Kraus said they've had conversations about how the M word affects the little people community and what it would mean for the townspeople if the mascot were to change.
“It was a good picture, but that didn't change anything,” he said.
A school board member at the time said the community was happy with the nickname, adding that “once a kid, always a kid,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Current school board members did not respond to Insider's multiple questions.
Most recently, LPA representatives spoke at a school board meeting in Dickinson, North Dakota, a city of about 23,000, in December 2019. LPA made a presentation to the board and groups that engaged in friendly discussions on the topic.
But in February 2020, the school board decided not to focus on changing the name after a community survey found that 65% were in favor of keeping the mascot's name, while only 35% were in favor of replacing it. The Grand Forks Herald mentionted. Dickinson school board members did not respond to multiple emails from Insider.
Dickinson High School bus and trailer in Williston, North Dakota on May 17, 2021.
Kelsey Vlamis/Insider
When pressed about resistance to changing the mascot, school officials and community members often say they never intended the mascot to be offensive and that it's part of their history. But Kraus said it's no less difficult to understand that kind of thinking.
“The losses were difficult because we put in a lot of effort and then it fails, and it's really hard to understand, the psychology of it,” he said, adding that he thinks lingering misconceptions about little people may be to blame.
“They say dwarfism is still considered acceptable to make fun of, to belittle, because there aren't that many of us.”
Kraus said portrayals of small people on television and in movies are also a major obstacle. Instead of showing little people in a way that shows they're like everyone else, he says they're often “just an avenue to make fun of.”
Hopeful in an age of reckoning with the past
Although some schools continue to resist, at least two have done away with the M-word mascot in recent years. In 2016, a South Dakota high school on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation changed its mascot to Mustangs. In 2019, a Wisconsin high school changed its mascot to the Northstars.
“The change in those two schools has really been very helpful for us,” Kraus said. “Not only because we've seen it's possible, but also because they've been willing to be very helpful in talking to other districts about the change.”
Kraus said changing behavior can take time, and things are already much better than they were in the past. In 1996, for example, when three Dickinson school board members decided to abandon the mascot, they were ousted after a community uproar. The Associated Press ran a headline at the time calling them a “politically correct school board.”
The LPA will continue to support the remaining schools and explore new strategies. Kraus said it's important for the next generation of little people so “they can start at a very young age to understand that they're just like everyone else and that they don't deserve to be looked down upon.”
He also said the organization hopes society at large becomes more empathetic to the concerns of marginalized groups.
“We're really hopeful in this era of communities and people really documenting the past and having racial appreciation,” Kraus said. “This is about taking stock of how people with disabilities are viewed and thinking more about people's potential and capabilities and humanity as opposed to the sports teams they once were.”
Got a news tip? Contact this reporter at kvlamis@businessinsider.com.
