This week marks 50 years of integration at The University of Mississippi. It is important that we take time to reflect on the progress the university has made to transform its obstinate outlook during the civil rights movement to a more open and accepting place. Looking beyond the university, it is much more important to focus on the accomplishments of black alumni as they have followed the legacy of James Meredith in opening up a once closed society.
While reflecting on the legacy of Meredith, Cory Chinn-Lang, a second-year law student, said “I am forever indebted and eternally grateful for the efforts, perseverance and victories of James Meredith and Constance Slaughter Harvey. Their fight for what is right has made law school a very real and accessible opportunity for students throughout the state.” The path to racial equality has been a journey of epic proportions in the Deep South, with a few chapters still left to go.
The area of the law in particular has been slow to change.
A vast majority of lawyers and law students are white males. Even now, a quick survey of the gender and ethnic make up of our law school’s current study body shows the lingering inequality. For the 157 members of the class of 2012, 101 are males and there are only 31 minority students in the entire class. These numbers are no reflection of the admissions office of the school, but a reflection of a cultural lag in the area of the law.
Speaking with several students on why there is such a gap, some have attributed it to a feeling of being uncomfortable. As much as we try to sweep the past under the rug, we are in the Deep South and there are still individuals who harbor racist or discriminatory feelings.
One student said there is a sense of “Why come when we feel like we aren’t wanted,” and another student said that some of his peers have complained that white students never speak to them. Chinn-Lang said that “integration is more than tolerance, it’s acceptance,” which is a line the Deep South still teeters on.
To say that blacks are not still facing an uphill struggle on their journey to racial equality would be a considerable misstatement. To quote Victoria Washington, a second-year law student, “The continuous growth in Ole Miss acceptance of African Americans into its prestigious law program, shows its effort toward change both on a local and state level. Surely many of us would like an immediate change, but history and present times show that that is only wishful thinking. Gradual will have to do for now.”
Despite the obstacles they faced, the law school has been fortunate enough to have several renowned blacks walk its halls. In 1967, Rueben Anderson became the first black to graduate from the law school. He later became the first black state Supreme Court justice and the first black president for the Mississippi Bar Association. Constance Slaughter Harvey was the first black to receive a law degree from The University of Mississippi. She graduated in 1970, overcoming both gender and racial adversity. James Meredith’s legacy continued again in 1994 when Louis Westerfield became the dean of the School of Law, the first black to serve as such in Ole Miss history.
Looking forward, hopefully the centennial anniversary of James Meredith’s admission into the university will be celebrated with a much more unified student body who better represent our country and state as a whole. We’re in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go.
Washington said it best when asked about her experience as an black law student and what it represents. “My enrollment at Ole Miss has continued the legacy began by James Meredith which was further enhanced and continued by Constance Slaughter-Harvey, the first African American woman to graduate from the university. My presence here, alone, continues the belief in change. To be a student at Ole Miss is evidence. How could it not be? I am a candidate for a Juris Doctor degree from a school who barred the admittance of African Americans only 50 years ago. This is evidence that we are progressing as a state, as a nation, as an institution, as a people. Yet, there is still a long way to go.”
Anna Rush is a second-year law student from Hattiesburg. She graduated from Mississippi State University in 2011. Follow her on Twitter @annakrush.
