Some perspective on tonight’s debate on the University of Mississippi’s campus.
In the fall of 1962 the college town of Oxford, Mississippi, erupted in violence. At the center of the controversy stood James Meredith, an African American who was attempting to register at the all-white University of Mississippi, known as “Ole Miss.” Meredith had the support of the federal government, which insisted that Mississippi honor the rights of all its citizens, regardless of race. Mississippi’s refusal led to a showdown between state and federal authorities and the storming of the campus by a segregationist mob. Two people died and dozens were injured. In the end, Ole Miss, the state of Mississippi, and the nation were forever changed.
At the time, Barack Obama was a fourteen month-old infant, living in Honolulu, Hawaii. Here’s a chronology of the events leading up to the forced integration of Ole Miss.
I say that as a Black daughter of parents born and raised in the Jim Crow South. It has progressed. There is work to do be done, but nobody can take away from this country. When this is all said and done, I’m going to have to sit down and write what Obama’s campaign has meant to me as a Black woman. I’ve been moved by him in ways I didn’t know were possible, on levels that I didn’t were there. My generation has had it easy. Electing Barack Obama IS the load we’re supposed to carry on our shoulders. We must do this for the future generations.
Progress is relative, and measuring it is sometimes like capturing lightning in a bottle! I did my level best in 1951 to stay off the streets of Biloxi Mississippi. I was a young African American, no Negro in those days, serviceman stationed at Keesler Air Force Base. In those days, a brother in uniform caught on the streets of Biloxi by the local police with a copy of Ebony magazine in his possession would be arrested on the spot and dragged off to jail for a good old fashion ass whipping. (The Biloxi Chief of Police though that Ebony was a dangerous magazine as it gave Black folks too many uppity ideas!)
Yeah, Mississippi has come a long way and you can probably even carry a copy of Ebony through downtown Biloxi without fear of getting arrested. But one thing hasn’t changed, cause the KKK is still there and just as busy as it was back in the 1950’s; most likely it’s even more active these days. The Klan has already announced that it plans to attend tonight’s debate and MAKE ITS PRESENCE KNOWN.
So for those people who feel that Mississippi has come a long way, just tell Barack to make sure as he walks from his car to the entrance of the hall tonight to make sure that he is not carrying a copy of Ebony magazine under his arm.
I was newly out of basic training and arrived at my first post, NAS Memphis at Millington, TN at the end of the summer of ’62. The navy base was a staging area for the federal marshals who were pulling guard duty at Oxford. The subsequent reaction of some of the local folks was quite an enlightening experience for this upper midwestern kid.
how so?
There were protests targeting the marshals and a lot of rocks & bottles came over the fence in anger. I had never experienced hatred like that before. At 18 it was a rather rude awakening and it left an impression. Reading about things like that just don’t do it justice once you’ve seen it up close.
People in Tennessee were so upset about the integration of Ole Miss that they were tossing rocks at the marshalls?
Oh definitely, but I can’t say they were from Tennessee. They could have followed them back from Ole Miss. I stayed pretty much the hell away from the action.
I got to Keesler (diddy bop school) just in time to evacuate as Camille hit the Gulf Coast. When I got back the town was (in big pockets) destroyed. But I still remember walking off base, an 18 year old white kid in uniform from Berkeley. Passing the Post Office I saw the slavers flag flying alongside the US flag and I stopped, stunned. A little farther on while walking down a wide sidewalk at noon an elderly black guy hopped off the sidewalk and walked in the gutter as we passed. He hopped back up on the sidewalk after he was past me. That happened in Biloxi so often it was a regular thing.
I hope something has changed down there. It was a rancid shithole back then.