Marion S. Trikosko/Library of Congress U.S. News & World Report Magazine
Photograph Collection James Meredith walking to class accompanied by United States marshals on his first day at the University of Mississippi, Oct. 1, 1962.
On Aug. 18, 1963, James Meredith was awarded a bachelor’s degree by the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), becoming the first black man to graduate from the school.
“The commencement ceremony went off without incident,” reported The New York Times , in contrast to his admission less than a year earlier.
Mr. Meredith, a strong-minded man who considered himself fighting in a “war” for his rights as a citizen, first applied to Ole Miss in January 1961. After an 18-month legal battle, a court ordered the university to admit him, but a strong segregationist faction led by the Mississippi governor, Ross Barnett, refused to let him register in September 1962.
While the governor knew that he would eventually have to admit Mr. Meredith, he did not want to appear weak to his fellow segregationists. At one point, he asked Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to instruct United States marshals to point guns at him, to give the impression that he was forced to relent.
On Sept. 30, 1962, hundreds of federal marshals secured the campus and sneaked Mr. Meredith into a dormitory. That evening, Ole Miss students and area segregationists began attacking the marshals and rioting. President John F. Kennedy ordered federal troops to quell the rioting, which left two dead.
On the morning of Oct. 1, with thousands of armed troops surrounding the campus, Mr. Meredith was at last able to register for classes . He spent a year at the school, accompanied by United States marshals, and faced near-daily harassment and isolation from his fellow students.
Having accumulated credits at another school, Mr. Meredith needed only a year to graduate, but the degree didn’t matter to him. “It was never about education — never about education,” Mr. Meredith explained in a recent interview with the National Visionary Leadership Project . “It was about power. It was about citizenship. It was about enjoying everything any other man enjoys. It ain’t never been about education.”
In 1966, Mr. Meredith tried a one-man March Against Fear from Memphis to Jackson, Miss., but was shot in the leg by a would-be assassin. Civil rights leaders including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael completed the march in Mr. Meredith’s name.
Mr. Meredith received a law degree from Columbia and became active in politics, surprising many and angering some civil rights leaders by running for Congress as a Republican. Later, he served on the staff of conservative Senator Jesse Helms and supported the former Klansman David Duke’s bid for Louisiana governor.
Connect to Today:
Over the years, the University of Mississippi has upheld many customs and systems that reflect the heritage of the South; in fact, the university’s nickname “Ole Miss” is likely derived from an expression once used by slaves for the plantation owner’s wife. In recent years, the school has ended many of these customs in an effort to be more inclusive to blacks, from
banning Confederate flags at football games to discontinuing “Dixie,” a minstrel song about a slave pining for his days in the South, as the unofficial fight song. Last year, the school unveiled a new bear mascot to replace its traditional mascot, Colonel Reb, “a white-goateed, cane-toting Southern plantation owner that many have criticized as racist and anachronistic.”
While many have applauded the university’s decisions, there are students and alumni who continue to support Colonel Reb and believe that the school should hold on to its longstanding mascot. Do you think Ole Miss and other institutions with customs and symbols considered offensive can preserve tradition and at the same time, meet the needs of the campus community?
Learn more about what happened in history on Aug. 18»
Learn more about Historic Headlines and our collaboration with findingDulcinea »
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment