Ole Miss Integration
Background:
On September 30, 1962, riots erupted on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford where locals, students, and committed segregationists had gathered to protest the enrollment of James Meredith, a black Air Force veteran attempting to integrate the all-white school. Despite the presence of more than 120 federal marshals who were on hand to protect Meredith from harm, the crowd turned violent after nightfall, and authorities struggled to maintain order. When the smoke cleared the following morning, two civilians were dead and scores more were reported injured. For Meredith, the riot was perhaps a fitting coda to a process that began almost two years earlier when he brought suit against the school, alleging that he was denied admission on the basis of race. Although a lower court sided with the university, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit issued a decision in June 1962 ordering the school to admit Meredith the following fall, thereby ensuring a showdown between the federal government and Mississippi's segregationist state government. After spending the night of September 30 under federal protection, Meredith was allowed to register for classes the following morning, and became the first black graduate from the university in August 1963.
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Archival Collections and Reference Resources
- African American Odyssey (Library of Congress)
- Baldy Editorial Cartoons, 1946-1982, 1997: Clifford H. Baldowski Editorial Cartoons at the Richard B. Russell Library. (Digital Library of Georgia)
- --Don't you know a general officer when you see one! / Baldy, 1962 Oct. 2 (Editorial cartoons)
- He graduated fum Ole Miss. Thet's wot he done! / Baldy, [1966 June 8]. (Editorial cartoons)
- It's a shame the way these troops are terrorizing people!, 1961 Oct. 10 [i.e., 1962 Oct. 10]. (Editorial cartoons)
- Civil Rights Oral History Interviews (Washington State University's Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections)
- Oral Histories of the American South: The Civil Rights Movement (Documenting the American South (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill))
- Powerful Days in Black and White (Eastman Kodak Company)
- Series 2515 : Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission Records Online, 1994-2006, Folders (Mississippi Department of Archives and History)
- Series 2515 : Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission Records Online, 1994-2006, Photographs (Mississippi Department of Archives and History)
- USM Historical Manuscripts (University of Southern Mississippi)
- Attitudes in Mississippi (Texts (document genres))
- Burned-out vehicle on campus at Ole Miss (Black-and-white photographs)
- George Peabody building at Ole Miss (Color photographs)
- Letter, W. J. Simmons to Ross R. Barnett; May 6, 1969 (Letters (correspondence))
- Letter, Will D. Campbell to Dr. [McLeod] Bryan; January 6, 1959 (Text)
- Letter, Will D. Campbell to Rev. Luther Holcomb; October 19, 1962 (Letters (correspondence))
- Letter, Will D. Campbell to William H. Willis; May 4, 1961 (Letters (correspondence))
- Memo, Will D. Campbell to Dr. J. Oscar Lee; August 25, 1958 (Text)
- Men in uniform at Ole Miss (Black-and-white photographs)
- Mississippi and U.S. national purpose; October 2, 1962 (Texts (document genres))
- Photograph of the Grove at the University of Mississippi (Black-and-white photographs)
- USM Oral History (University of Southern Mississippi)
- Oral history with Dr. Arthur B. Lewis, educator (Transcripts)
- Oral history with Dr. W. B. Thompson (Transcripts)
- Oral history with Frank Ellis Smith (Transcripts)
- Oral history with Mr. Brad Dye (Transcripts)
- Oral history with Mr. Hugh H. Clegg, native Mississippian, former assistant director of the FBI and educator (Transcripts)
- Oral history with Mr. Jimmy Swan, radio personality and political figure (Transcripts)
- Oral history with Mr. Ken Fairly (Transcripts)
- Oral history with Mr. Pete Johnson (Transcripts)
- Oral history with Mr. Semmes Luckett (Transcripts)
- Oral history with Mr. Thomas J. Tubb (Transcripts)
- Oral history with Mr. Thomas Y. Minniece (Transcripts)
- Oral history with Mr. W.S. Griffin (Transcripts)
- Oral history with Mr. William Joel Blass (Transcripts)
- Oral history with the Honorable Harvey Ross (Transcripts)
- Oral history with the Honorable Herman B. DeCell (Transcripts)
- Oral history with the Honorable J. P. Coleman, former governor of Mississippi and chief judge (ret.), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (Oral histories)
- Oral history with the Honorable Ross Robert Barnett, former governor of the State of Mississippi. (Transcripts)
- Oral history with the Honorable Tony Byrne (Transcripts)
- With an Even Hand: Brown vs. Board at Fifty (Library of Congress)
- The Birmingham News (Birmingham, Alabama), Monday, October 1, 1962 (Newspapers)
- James Meredith, (center) and his attorneys, Mrs. Constance Motley, (left) and Jack Greenberg, (right) paused briefly to talk with reporters in front of the Federal Courts Building in New Orleans (Black-and-white photographs)
- John A. Morsell, Assistant to NAACP Executive Secretary to President John F. Kennedy requesting the assistance of the federal government in the case of James Meredith, September 21, 1962 (Letters (correspondence))
- WSB-TV Newsfilm Collection (Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection)
- WSB-TV newsfilm clip of a reporter interviewing University of Mississippi history professor James W. Silver about Mississippi race relations in Oxford, Mississippi, 1964 (Moving images)
- WSB-TV newsfilm clip of federal troops sent to the University of Mississippi after rioting following the school's court-ordered integration, Oxford, Mississippi, 1962 October (Moving images)
- WSB-TV newsfilm clip of James Meredith, first African American student at the University of Mississippi, exiting an airplane in the company of federal marshals, Jackson, Mississippi, 1962 September 25 (Moving images)
- WSB-TV newsfilm clip of James Meredith graduating from the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi, 1963 August 18 (Moving images)
- WSB-TV newsfilm clip of reporters interviewing James Meredith, first African American student at the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi, 1962 October 1 (Moving images)
- WSB-TV newsfilm clip of students and federal troops at the University of Mississippi campus after a riot protesting integration in Oxford, Mississippi, 1962 October (Moving images)
- WSB-TV newsfilm clip of white citizens celebrating the departure of federal marshals from the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi, 1962 or 1963 (Moving images)