Okla-homey
9/30/2006, 07:02 AM
August 18, 1963: Meredith graduates from Ole Miss
45 years ago today, James Meredith, the first black person to attend the University of Mississippi, graduates with a degree in political science. His enrollment in the university a year earlier was met with deadly riots, and he subsequently attended class under heavily armed guard.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/2253/meredith8rj.jpg
James H. Meredith had been escorted onto the University of Mississippi campus by U.S. Marshals the previous year, setting off a deadly riot. Two men were killed before the racial violence was quelled by more than 3,000 federal soldiers. The next day, Meredith successfully enrolled and began to attend classes amid continuing disruption.
A 28 year old honorably discharged former U.S. Air Force member, Meredith originally applied and was accepted to the University of Mississippi in 1962. Back then, there was no "check race" box on the application form because it was supposed to be understood that only whites need apply for admission.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/1804/meredith10fk.gif
On the strength of his application and record, the admissions folks at Ole Miss happily admitted Meredith. Later, when the registrar figured out he was a "negro," his admission was revoked. A suit was brought in a federal court on the constitutional equal access question and that court ordered "Ole Miss" to admit Meredith.
When he tried to register on September 20, 1962, he found the entrance to the office blocked by Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett. On September 28, the Fifth Circuit US Court of Appeals found Governor Ross Barnett guilty of civil contempt for defying two earlier orders to admit James Meredith to the University of Mississippi.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/6206/merbarnett5lw.jpg
Flag waving Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett
The governor was ordered to cease his interference with desegregation at the university or face arrest and a fine of $10,000 a day. Gov. Barnett, having satisfied his base by "putting up a good fight against the meddling federal gubmint" then backed down.
Two days later, on this day in 1962, Meredith was escorted onto the Ole Miss campus by U.S. Marshals. Turned back by violence, he returned the next day and began classes.
Many students harassed Meredith during his first two semesters on campus. Though the majority of students accepted Meredith's presence, according to first person accounts chronicled in Nadine Cohodas's book The Band Played Dixie, students living in Meredith's dorm bounced basketballs on the floor just above his room through all hours of the night. When Meredith walked into the cafeteria for meals, the students eating would all turn their backs. If Meredith sat at a table with other students, all of whom were white, the students would immediately get up and go to another table.
Meredith, who was a transfer student from all-black Jackson State College, graduated with a degree in political science in the following spring. The first black Ole Miss alum therefore became a graduate in the Class of 1963.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/6064/merbr01586jf.jpg
Three years after graduating from The University of Mississippi, in 1966, Meredith returned to the public eye when he began a lone civil rights march in an attempt to encourage voter registration by disenfranchised black folks in the South.
During his "March Against Fear," Meredith intended to walk from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi. However, on June 6, just two days into the march, he was sent to a hospital by an anonymously fired bullet.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/1833/mermain9bt.jpg
Meredith, shortly after being shot down. Fortunately, the wound was not serious and he would recover.
Other civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr., and Trindadian native Stokely Carmichael, arrived to continue the march on his behalf. It was during the "March Against Fear" that Carmichael, who was leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, first spoke publicly of "Black Power"--his concept of militant African American nationalism.
As an aside, this placed Carmichael at odds with King who remained staunchly committed to non-violent protest. King had studied Ghandi's writings extensively. From the example provided in Ghandi's successsful non-violent movement for Indian independence, King knew non-violent protest is usually far more likely to invoke domestic and international empathy and support since it sets up a dynamic in which the peaceful protester is shown at such a relative disadvantage to the powerful, usually physically intimidating or outright violent civil authority.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/6041/merking6dz.jpg
Martin Luther King
Carmichael subscribed to the "by any means necessary" theory, originally widely espoused by Malcolm X and embodied by the "Black Panther Party" founded in Oakland in 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. Carmichael joined forces with them when he became a member.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/2976/merstcarmichael3xi.jpg
Stokely Carmichael
James Meredith later recovered and rejoined the march he had originated, and on June 26, 1966, the marchers successfully reached Jackson, Mississippi.
Now 74 and the owner of a used-car business, Meredith still publicly speaks
and displays remarkable humility when he says, "I get a lot of credit I don't deserve, it just happens that I was born at a certain time and became aware of certain things."
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/8977/meredithcol1nh.jpg
Meredith at a recent speaking engagement
James Meredith is currently living in Jackson, Mississippi with his wife, Judy Alsobrook Meredith. He has one daughter, Jessica Meredith Knight and two sons, James Meredith and John Meredith.
Postscript:
George W. McLaurin v. Oklahoma Board of Regents for Higher Education . Almost fourteen years before the Mississippi mess, in 1948 George McLaurin, a black retired professor, won the right to pursue a doctorate in education at the University of Oklahoma.
McLaurin entered OU without violent incident however, the University enrolled him on a segregated basis, requiring him not to mingle or sit with the white students.
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/8056/meroklahomaseatinglg1ib.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
OU classroom set-up for black student struck down by SCOTUS in 1950.
McLaurin sued the university again and in 1950, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that that OU violated the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause and that McLaurin's segregation "handicapped him in his pursuit of effective graduate instruction." The Court further stated that the restrictions impaired and inhibited his ability to study, to engage in discussion and exchange of views with other students and to learn his profession.
Thus, the university had violated McLaurin's right to equal educational opportunity. OU complied with the court's ruling, and the rest is history.
http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/4169/insane7zo8iz.jpg
45 years ago today, James Meredith, the first black person to attend the University of Mississippi, graduates with a degree in political science. His enrollment in the university a year earlier was met with deadly riots, and he subsequently attended class under heavily armed guard.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/2253/meredith8rj.jpg
James H. Meredith had been escorted onto the University of Mississippi campus by U.S. Marshals the previous year, setting off a deadly riot. Two men were killed before the racial violence was quelled by more than 3,000 federal soldiers. The next day, Meredith successfully enrolled and began to attend classes amid continuing disruption.
A 28 year old honorably discharged former U.S. Air Force member, Meredith originally applied and was accepted to the University of Mississippi in 1962. Back then, there was no "check race" box on the application form because it was supposed to be understood that only whites need apply for admission.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/1804/meredith10fk.gif
On the strength of his application and record, the admissions folks at Ole Miss happily admitted Meredith. Later, when the registrar figured out he was a "negro," his admission was revoked. A suit was brought in a federal court on the constitutional equal access question and that court ordered "Ole Miss" to admit Meredith.
When he tried to register on September 20, 1962, he found the entrance to the office blocked by Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett. On September 28, the Fifth Circuit US Court of Appeals found Governor Ross Barnett guilty of civil contempt for defying two earlier orders to admit James Meredith to the University of Mississippi.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/6206/merbarnett5lw.jpg
Flag waving Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett
The governor was ordered to cease his interference with desegregation at the university or face arrest and a fine of $10,000 a day. Gov. Barnett, having satisfied his base by "putting up a good fight against the meddling federal gubmint" then backed down.
Two days later, on this day in 1962, Meredith was escorted onto the Ole Miss campus by U.S. Marshals. Turned back by violence, he returned the next day and began classes.
Many students harassed Meredith during his first two semesters on campus. Though the majority of students accepted Meredith's presence, according to first person accounts chronicled in Nadine Cohodas's book The Band Played Dixie, students living in Meredith's dorm bounced basketballs on the floor just above his room through all hours of the night. When Meredith walked into the cafeteria for meals, the students eating would all turn their backs. If Meredith sat at a table with other students, all of whom were white, the students would immediately get up and go to another table.
Meredith, who was a transfer student from all-black Jackson State College, graduated with a degree in political science in the following spring. The first black Ole Miss alum therefore became a graduate in the Class of 1963.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/6064/merbr01586jf.jpg
Three years after graduating from The University of Mississippi, in 1966, Meredith returned to the public eye when he began a lone civil rights march in an attempt to encourage voter registration by disenfranchised black folks in the South.
During his "March Against Fear," Meredith intended to walk from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi. However, on June 6, just two days into the march, he was sent to a hospital by an anonymously fired bullet.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/1833/mermain9bt.jpg
Meredith, shortly after being shot down. Fortunately, the wound was not serious and he would recover.
Other civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr., and Trindadian native Stokely Carmichael, arrived to continue the march on his behalf. It was during the "March Against Fear" that Carmichael, who was leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, first spoke publicly of "Black Power"--his concept of militant African American nationalism.
As an aside, this placed Carmichael at odds with King who remained staunchly committed to non-violent protest. King had studied Ghandi's writings extensively. From the example provided in Ghandi's successsful non-violent movement for Indian independence, King knew non-violent protest is usually far more likely to invoke domestic and international empathy and support since it sets up a dynamic in which the peaceful protester is shown at such a relative disadvantage to the powerful, usually physically intimidating or outright violent civil authority.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/6041/merking6dz.jpg
Martin Luther King
Carmichael subscribed to the "by any means necessary" theory, originally widely espoused by Malcolm X and embodied by the "Black Panther Party" founded in Oakland in 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. Carmichael joined forces with them when he became a member.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/2976/merstcarmichael3xi.jpg
Stokely Carmichael
James Meredith later recovered and rejoined the march he had originated, and on June 26, 1966, the marchers successfully reached Jackson, Mississippi.
Now 74 and the owner of a used-car business, Meredith still publicly speaks
and displays remarkable humility when he says, "I get a lot of credit I don't deserve, it just happens that I was born at a certain time and became aware of certain things."
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/8977/meredithcol1nh.jpg
Meredith at a recent speaking engagement
James Meredith is currently living in Jackson, Mississippi with his wife, Judy Alsobrook Meredith. He has one daughter, Jessica Meredith Knight and two sons, James Meredith and John Meredith.
Postscript:
George W. McLaurin v. Oklahoma Board of Regents for Higher Education . Almost fourteen years before the Mississippi mess, in 1948 George McLaurin, a black retired professor, won the right to pursue a doctorate in education at the University of Oklahoma.
McLaurin entered OU without violent incident however, the University enrolled him on a segregated basis, requiring him not to mingle or sit with the white students.
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/8056/meroklahomaseatinglg1ib.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
OU classroom set-up for black student struck down by SCOTUS in 1950.
McLaurin sued the university again and in 1950, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that that OU violated the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause and that McLaurin's segregation "handicapped him in his pursuit of effective graduate instruction." The Court further stated that the restrictions impaired and inhibited his ability to study, to engage in discussion and exchange of views with other students and to learn his profession.
Thus, the university had violated McLaurin's right to equal educational opportunity. OU complied with the court's ruling, and the rest is history.
http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/4169/insane7zo8iz.jpg