At 2 p.m., the dedication of Reverend Will D. Campbell Plaza will be held at Paris-Yates Chapel honoring the late civil rights activist.
The dedication will be the last event of the University’s Racial Reconciliation Week before Saturday’s game where the week will have in-game recognition. According to Susan M. Glisson, Executive Director of the Winter Institute of Racial Reconciliation, Campbell was the ideal candidate for the plaza’s namesake.
“At the height of resistance to the civil rights movement, he was a white Southerner who said that black lives matter,” Glisson said.
Campbell was a notable figure during many important civil rights activities in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the only white person at the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Dr. Martin Luther King and on September 4, 1957, helped escort the “Little Rock Nine” into Central High School located in Little Rock, Arkansas. Campbell became Director of Religious Life at Ole Miss in 1954 but was forced to leave the position due to the backlash of his participation in civil rights activities.
However, Campbell will forever be a part of the Ole Miss campus after the dedication led by former Chancellor Dan Jones. The event corresponds with Jones’ desire to use areas on campus as opportunities to educate people about the complex, sometimes painful and sometimes inspiring, history of Ole Miss. Jones is equally excited about returning to campus.
“I love Ole Miss and will always look forward to coming back to campus. I’m particularly happy to be back for this dedication,” Jones said.
Jones said that Rev. Campbell is the ideal choice for this honor. “Will Campbell is an Ole Miss hero and a hero for justice.”
The occasion marks the return of Jones to the Oxford campus following his tenure as chancellor of the University.
Junior political science major Jacob Smith was happy to hear of Jones returning for the event. “I really think he was a model for what Ole Miss needs to be and he was good for Ole Miss. I’m glad to see him back even if it is not as chancellor,” Smith said.
