Retired Bishop Duncan Gray Jr. of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi is donating a personal collection of documents chronicling the period of integration at The University of Mississippi to the J.D. Williams Library special collection of civil rights history. The Civil Rights collection housed within the J.D. Williams Library Archives and Special Collections contains...
Tag Archives: James Meredith
“I believe in segregation like I believe in Jesus.” The previous statement is entirely fictitious. Admittedly embellished, as well, yet it embodies the ideology of some of those who were strongly opposed to James Meredith enrolling in classes at The University of Mississippi. Meredith had to overcome more than Ross Barnett’s personal rejection to the...
I imagine Ole Miss herself singing in my ear about her problems with racial equality when I hear the song “Ooh La La” by the Faces: “I wish that I knew what I know now … When I was younger.” In middle school I wrote a report on James Meredith detailing his admission to The University of Mississippi. I was old enough to be writing about a...
Oct. 1, 1962, is a date every Ole Miss student should know. It was the day James Meredith successfully registered as a student, thus integrating The University of Mississippi and “opening the closed society.” It was the day progress began at our university. James Meredith is a hero to the students of The University of Mississippi and to all students who came...
I’ll never forget the first conversation I had with James Meredith. I answered the phone and he mumbled softly, “Hello, this is James Meredith. Is this the president of the Ole Miss student body?” I replied, “Yes, this is.” I immediately stopped what I was doing and gave the phone my undivided attention. I could hardly believe James Meredith...
Among the events held to commemorate 50 years of integration at Ole Miss, Lt. Henry Gallagher retold the story from his viewpoint as James Meredith’s personal security guard. “We thought we were going on a routine exercise,” Galla- gher said. “Two army units that arrived on campus to confront the mob had prior knowledge of what they were going into; at the time,...
In 1962, U.S. Marshals were ordered to go to The Univer- sity of Mississippi to escort James Meredith so he could enroll in classes. Five of those marshals returned to the Ole Miss Student Union Monday morning to speak about their experience on campus during the 1962 integration. People filled the ballroom in the Union to hear the panel of five former U.S. Marshals and...
Musician and Civil Rights Activist Harry Belafonte, Chan- cellor Dan Jones and Associated Student Body president Kimbrely Dandridge led a walk to commemorate the anniversary of James Meredith’s first day as a student at The University of Mississippi. The walk began at Baxter Hall, where Meredith lived while on campus, and ended at the Lyceum steps. Facing the statue...
On the 50th anniversary of James Meredith’s admission to The University of Mis- sissippi, the Black Student Union paid tribute to Mere- dith by unveiling dedication markers. Donald Cole, assistant provost and assistant to the chancellor for minority af- fairs, reflected on the strug- gles Meredith faced as the only black student at the uni- versity. “The precedent...
The fires of revulsion spread wildly and untamed in Mississippi and on The University of Mississippi’s campus on Sept. 30, 1962, injuring several people and resulting in the death of two men. It was on this day that 29-year-old James Meredith made history by becoming the first black student admitted to Ole Miss. However, his arrival in Oxford and admittance into the...
