#james meredith

[thelittleslowmoon]

Robert Kennedy and James Meredith May 27, 1963

In the heat of the crisis over Meredith, Mississippians had viewed defiant Governor Ross Barnett as the hero of the day and Attorney General Robert Kennedy as his ruthless antagonist in Washington. The defiance of Barnett to the federal government ended in a bloody stand by thousands of Mississippians on the campus of the university the night of September 30, 1962. Five hundred federal marshals were set upon by a screaming mob as gunshots rang out in the night and broken bricks and bottles came hurtling at the federal officers out of the darkness. To save the marshals and put Meredith into the university, army troops were moved to the campus... Few know that during the tragic night of September 30, 1962, Robert Kennedy could have given the order which probably would have caused the deaths of many Mississippians, but he never give it. Repeatedly, the beleaguered marshals and the cadre of Justice Department men at the Lyceum Building asked for permission to open fire on the attacking mob. It their ranks were some of the best marksmen in the united states, border patrolmen, and federal prison guards. Their ranks had been bloodied throughout the wild evening, and sixty of them lay wounded. But at the other end of the command-post telephone, Robert Kennedy withheld the order to open fire and during the entire night, although the marshals were under attack constantly for nearly six hours, he would not give permission to fire upon the attackers.

─ W. F. Minor The New Orleans Times-Picayune June 9, 1968

[itsmythang]

James Baldwin with activist James Meredith, Jackson, Mississippi, in 1963, a year after Meredith became the first African American student admitted to the University of Mississippi..

[20th-century-scrapbook]

Jack Thornhill’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photo showing the civil rights activist James Meredith on the ground after being shot in Hernando, Mississippi on June 6, 1966. He is looking at the man who shot him, hiding in the woods / Jack Thornell/Associated Press

[petervintonjr]

"For years, the Black press has worked to keep the stories of inequality and injustice alive. Today, the media has become slightly more diverse but not nearly enough. Journalists have an incredibly important role to play in the continuing struggle for equal rights. This is fact --not fake-- news."

Continuing down our apparently-inexhaustible list of heroic journalists, let's examine the life and career of editor, columnist, author, and educator Dorothy Butler Gilliam: the first Black woman journalist to be hired by The Washington Post.

Born in 1936 Memphis, Tenn., Dorothy originally enrolled at Ursuline University in Louisville, but later transferred to Lincoln University to study journalism --having been inspired while working for Ursuline's student newspaper, the Louisville Defender. Faced with many hiring setbacks due to her race, Dorothy finally was able to properly kick off her journalism career in 1957, working for the weekly Memphis Tri-State Defender. Significant among her stories of that era, she covered the integration of the Little Rock Nine (over the objections of her editor, L. Alex Wilson). She then worked for Jet and Ebony for several years while pursuing an advanced graduate degree in journalism, first at the Tuskegee Institute, and then ultimately graduating from Columbia. Thusly credentialed, Gilliam joined the city desk (later known as the Metro section) of The Washington Post in October 1961, and covered a number of key civil rights events, including the tumultuous 1962 integration of the University of Mississippi and the efforts of James Meredith --her first front-page article for the Post was headlined "Mississippi Negroes happily stunned by Meredith," appearing on October 6, 1962. She also interviewed Medgar Evers that same year. She stepped away from journalism for a time but rejoined the Post in 1972, where she would remain for the next 19 years.

In 1976 she authored the definitive biography of actor and activist Paul Robeson (see Lesson #18 in this series). A 1977 volunteer project to train minority journalists, blossomed into what is now known as the Robert Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, on which she served as chair from 1985-1992. Also in 1992, she was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Hall of Fame, and then served as its president from 1993 to 1995. In 1997, mindful of her own first taste of journalism when at Ursuline, she founded the Post's Young Journalists Development Project. In 2004, while a Fellow at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs, she created Prime Movers Media, a journalism mentorship program for underserved students in urban schools.

Retired but by no means inactive, Dorothy continues to lecture and advocate and inspire: her memoir Trailblazer was published in 2019.

Take in this segment from Gilliam's 2019 appearance with Trevor Noah on The Daily Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y88YcOeSPFo

[seriouslycromulent]

[forever70s]

Civil Rights activist, James Meredith (1966)

[electronicsquid]

James Meredith at the University of Mississippi

(Francis Miller. 1962)

[todaysdocument]

Copy of telegram from Pres. Kennedy to Mississippi Gov. Barnett regarding the entrance of James Meredith into the University of Mississippi, 9/29/1962.

“ . . . the Federal Government has an overriding responsibility to enforce the orders of the federal courts.” 

File Unit: Civil rights: Mississippi, September 1962: 27-30, 9/27/1962 - 10/1/1962

Series: Subject Files, 1/20/1961 - 11/22/1963

Collection: Papers of John F. Kennedy: Presidential Papers: President's Office Files, 1/20/1961 - 11/22/1963

Transcription:

SEPTEMBER 29, 1962

HON. ROSS BARNETT

GOVERNOR

STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

    TO PRESERVE OUR CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM THE FEDERAL

GOVERNMENT HAS AN OVERRIDING RESPONSIBILITY TO ENFORCE

THE ORDERS OF THE FEDERAL COURTS. THOSE COURTS HAVE

ORDERED THAT JAMES MEREDITH BE ADMITTED NOW AS A STUDENT

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI. THREE EFFORTS BY FEDERAL

LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS TO GIVE EFFECT TO THE ORDER

HAVE BEEN UNAVAILING BECAUSE OF YOUR PERSONAL PHYSICAL

INTERVENTION AND THAT OF THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR

SUPPORTED BY STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS. A FOURTH

WAS CALLED OFF AT THE LAST MINUTE BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

ON ADVICE FROM YOU THAT EXTREME VIOLENCE AND BLOODSHED

WOULD OTHERWISE RESULT. BY VIEW OF THIS BREAKDOWN OF

LAW AND ORDER IN MISSISSIPPI AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH OUR

TWO TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS TODAY. I WOULD LIKE TO BE

ADVISED AT ONCE OF YOUR RESPONSE TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

[page 2]

PAGE TWO

FIRST. WILL YOU TAKE ACTION TO SEE THAT THE COURT

ORDER IS ENFORCED AND PERSONALLY FOLLOW THE COURT'S

DIRECTION TO YOU?

SECOND, IF NOT, WILL YOU CONTINUE TO ACTIVELY INTERFERE

WITH ENFORCEMENT OF THE ORDERS OF THE COURT THROUGH

YOUR OWN ACTIONS OR THROUGH THE USE OF STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT

OFFICIALS OR IN ANY OTHER WAY?

THIRD, WILL STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS COOPERATE

IN MAINTAINING LAW AND ORDER AND PREVENTING VIOLENCE IN

CONNECTION WITH FEDERAL ENFORCEMENT OF THE COURT OF ORDERS?

IN THIS CONNECTION. WILL YOU AT ONCE TAKE STEPS TO PROHIBITS

MOBS FROM COLLECTION IN THE OXFORD AREA DURING

THIS DIFFICULT PERIOD, AND WILL YOU CALL ON THE UNIVERSITY OFFICIALS

TO ISSUE REGULATIONS TO PREVENT STUDENTS FROM PARTICIPATING

IN DEMONSTRATIONS OR MOB ACTIVITY? AS GOVERNOR OF THE

STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, WILL YOU TAKE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR

MAINTAINING LAW AND ORDER IN THAT STATE WHEN THE COURT

ORDERS ARE PUT INTO EFFECT?

[page 3]

[[all in capital letters]]

PAGE THREE

I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU THIS EVENING BY WIRE.

I HOPE FOR YOUR COMPLETE COOPERATION AND ASSISTANCE

IN MEETING OUR RESPONSIBILITIES.

               JOHN F. KENNEDY

          PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES