Integrating Ole Miss: A Transformative, Deadly Riot

NPR ^ | October 1, 2012 (50th Anniversary) | Debbie Elliott

[tired&retired]

Fifty years ago — Oct. 1, 1962 — the first black student was admitted to the University of Mississippi, a bastion of the Old South.

The town of Oxford erupted. It took some 30,000 U.S. troops, federal marshals and national guardsmen to get James Meredith to class after a violent campus uprising. Two people were killed and more than 300 injured. Some historians say the integration of Ole Miss was the last battle of the Civil War.

It was a high-stakes showdown between President Kennedy and Mississippi Gov. Ross Barnett.

"I'm a Mississippi segregationist and I am proud of it," the governor declared.

Publicly, Barnett promised to block Meredith from the campus in Oxford, despite a federal court order. Privately, he was on the phone trying to strike a compromise with Kennedy.

While Barnett wanted to save face by defending Mississippi's segregationist laws, the president told him he had a responsibility to uphold federal law.

By Saturday, Sept. 29, 1962, Kennedy was deploying federal marshals to Oxford, and Barnett was making a fiery speech at an Ole Miss football game.

"I love Mississippi! I love her people, our customs," he said. "I love and I respect our heritage."

History professor Chuck Ross, director of the African-American Studies Program at Ole Miss, says the speech "was almost like firing on Fort Sumter in 1861."

"A call to arms ... 'We're getting ready to be invaded, we really want you as a Mississippian, a white Mississippian, to respond,' " Ross says.

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TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: 1962; jfk; npr

[tired&retired]

In response to the Ole Miss riot of 1962, President John F. Kennedy deployed nearly 31,000 troops, including units from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, to restore order.

The Ole Miss riot of 1962 (September 30 – October 1, 1962), also known as the Battle of Oxford, was a race riot that occurred at the University of Mississippi—commonly called Ole Miss—in Oxford, Mississippi, as segregationist rioters sought to prevent the enrollment of African American applicant James Meredith. President John F. Kennedy eventually quelled the riot by mobilizing more than 30,000 troops, the most for a single disturbance in United States history.

In the wake of the Supreme Court's 1954 decision Brown v. Board of Education, Meredith tried to integrate Ole Miss by applying in 1961. When he informed the university that he was African American, his admission was delayed and obstructed, first by school officials and then by Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett. In a bid to block his enrollment, Barnett had Meredith temporarily jailed. Multiple attempts by Meredith, accompanied by federal officials, to enroll were physically blocked. Hoping to avoid violence and ensure Meredith's enrollment,

[tired&retired]

Trump sends 300 National Guard, JFK sent over 30,000 troops, including the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions.

[stanne]

NPR loves using this headline. They could mention in the headline that it’s a 50 year old story

It is fully integrated.

Is npr still getting government money to hate our country

Ole Miss is one of the best schools right now. In every way. Too much partying - it’s an American school and Americans are being raised to be stopped but this is among factions easy to avoid

[Da Coyote]

NPR. Sigh. To think that I actually once thought that they had class.

[Red Badger]

I grew up just a few miles north of Ole Miss. I was seven in 1962.

I still remember seeing the convoys of ‘Army Men’ (National Guard troops), passing through town on their way to Oxford....................

[BrexitBen]

This is a glaring example of why NPR needs to be completely defunded.

If they had to rely upon advertising to survive, this virtue-signaling lady wouldn’t dare write such tripe.

[Joe 6-pack]

For some reason, NPR didn’t mention Ross Barnett’s party affiliation. Just in editorial oversight, I’m sure.

[BrexitBen]

Federal funding for NPR is one of the reasons the far-left is shutting down funding the government this month.

Without federal funding, how can NPR/PBS race-baiting survive?

[tired&retired]

I added the (50th Anniversary) next to the 2012 date to bring attention to the fact that it is an old story.

My point in posting it was to show that Trump is going easy on the Democrat Governors and Mayors trying to block him. JFK used our military in full force.

I’m currently searching for the President Eisenhower speech when he used the military to integrate the high school. In that speech, Eisenhower stated that the states cannot go against federal law. “President Dwight D. Eisenhower, as the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, was presented with a difficult problem. He was required to uphold the Constitution and the laws, but he also wanted to avoid a bloody confrontation in Arkansas. With Executive Order 10730, the President placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal control and sent 1,000 U.S. Army paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division to assist them in restoring order in Little Rock.”

Transcript
EXECUTIVE ORDER 10730

PROVIDING ASSISTANCE FOR THE REMOVAL OF AN OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE WITHIN THE STATE OF ARKANSAS

WHEREAS on September 23, 1957, I (President Eisenhower) issued Proclamation No.3204 reading in part as follows:

“WHEREAS certain persons in the state of Arkansas, individually and in unlawful assemblages, combinations, and conspiracies, have willfully obstructed the enforcement of orders of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas with respect to matters relating to enrollment and attendance at public schools, particularly at Central High School, located in Little Rock School District, Little Rock, Arkansas; and

“WHEREAS such willful obstruction of justice hinders the execution of the laws of that State and of the United States, and makes it impracticable to enforce such laws by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings; and

“WHEREAS such obstruction of justice constitutes a denial of the equal protection of the laws secured by the Constitution of the United States and impedes the course of justice under those laws:

“NOW, THEREFORE, I, DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, President of the United States, under and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes of the United States, including Chapter 15 of Title 10 of the United States Code, particularly sections 332, 333 and 334 thereof, do command all persons engaged in such obstruction of justice to cease and desist therefrom, and to disperse forthwith;” and

WHEREAS the command contained in that Proclamation has not been obeyed and willful obstruction of enforcement of said court orders still exists and threatens to continue:

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes of the United States, including Chapter 15 of Title 10, particularly sections 332, 333 and 334 thereof, and section 301 of Title 3 of the United States Code, It is hereby ordered as follows:

SECTION 1. I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of Defense to order into the active military service of the United States as he may deem appropriate to carry out the purposes of this Order, any or all of the units of the National Guard of the United States and of the Air National Guard of the United States within the State of Arkansas to serve in the active military service of the United States for an indefinite period and until relieved by appropriate orders.

SEC. 2. The Secretary of Defense is authorized and directed to take all appropriate steps to enforce any orders of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas for the removal of obstruction of justice in the State of Arkansas with respect to matters relating to enrollment and attendance at public schools in the Little Rock School District, Little Rock, Arkansas. In carrying out the provisions of this section, the Secretary of Defense is authorized to use the units, and members thereof, ordered into the active military service of the United States pursuant to Section 1 of this Order.

SEC. 3. In furtherance of the enforcement of the aforementioned orders of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, the Secretary of Defense is authorized to use such of the armed forces of the United States as he may deem necessary.

SEC. 4. The Secretary of Defense is authorized to delegate to the Secretary of the Army or the Secretary of the Air Force, or both, any of the authority conferred upon him by this Order.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
THE WHITE HOUSE,
September 24, 1957

[Sirius Lee]

Oh, you should hear them in this week's fund raising drive as they do a riff and variations on: "We are relying solely on you for commercial free unbiased radio (lie - their corporate sponsors provide big bucks to do ads) because the mean ol' President has cut our funding. Bwoo hoo hoo..."

Feels good man.

[stanne]

Oh. I got that. It’s a good post.

I’m noting that NPR left out an important point that you put in and people often have to do around here

Yes I’m listening to X22 just now citing all the times Chicago has seen the mark guard that the media and their now illegal immigrant dependent governor wants us to forget.

[Carry_Okie]

Fifty years ago — Oct. 1, 1962

More than a decade off. I guess NPR flunked arithmetic.

[Carry_Okie]

I added the (50th Anniversary) next to the 2012 date to bring attention to the fact that it is an old story.

Missed that. Need more coffee.

[ansel12]

1960s Detroit.

[tired&retired]

A city in flames

Fifty years ago and five days before Mr Buchanan’s birthday, police raided an after-hours African-American blind pig, or an unlicensed drinking and gambling club, and arrested 82 people in the middle of the night.

The incident touched off civil unrest across Detroit over the next five days, prompting Michigan Governor George Romney to deploy the National Guard and eventually President Lyndon Johnson to send troops from the US Army’s 82nd and 101st Airborne Division to quell the violence.

Once the dust settled, 43 people were dead, 1,000 were injured and more than 7,000 were arrested - many of whom were African-American - in what seemed like a warzone to the rest of the country.

[TheThirdRuffian]

I’m sure the article mentions it was Democrats who opposed integration.

LOL.

Just kidding. nPr never tells the truth.

[ansel12]

Here is how the feds support police while they do arrests, local cops should return the favor when feds are making arrests.

The 101st Airborne (below).

[tired&retired]

I had a T-Bird like the one in the first picture when I was in high school. It was in perfect condition, leather interior and fender covers. Tail lights went all the way across the back of the car. Paid $300 for it.

But the 428 cubic inch V8 engine with a 4 barrel carb and 345 horsepower sucked gas like crazy. I used to park it and hitch hike to college as I couldn’t afford the gas.

[Gay State Conservative]

I was a kid...too young to understand it. But I do remember it.

[bort]

Interestingly, after Meredith was admitted to Ole Miss, the campus had a surge of applicants who were obese, white females with red hair, freckles, and hoop earrings...