Modern-day hero

Robert H. Jackson Center to host first African-American student at Mississippi University

By ROBERT W. PLYLER

At 10:30 a.m. Monday morning, the public is invited to meet one of the heroes of the 20th century.

   In 1962, Meredith risked death threats and defied the entire government structure of the State of Mississippi to become the first African-American student ever to enroll in the University of Mississippi. His e n r o l l m e n t touched off riots which killed two and left many injured, including 160 U.S. Marshals.

   In 1966, he was shot while leading a peaceful march, e n c o u r a g i n g African-Americans to register to vote.

   Upon release from the hospital, he returned to the site of the shooting and completed the march.

   Meredith will speak in the Carl Cappa Theater of the Robert H. Jackson Center, on Prendergast Ave. between Fourth and Fifth Streets in downtown Jamestown. Following his presentation, a question and answer session will be conducted by the Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, chair of the Department of Religion at the Chautauqua Institution and by Benjamin Davis, professor of law at the University of Toledo.

   From my years in the classroom, I am well aware that often young Americans think of racial discrimination and official government policies of white supremacy to be issues from the distant past.

   Indeed, I can remember in my youth seeing drinking fountains in large department stores labeled ‘‘White’’ and ‘‘Colored’’ and separate bathrooms, enforced by armed policemen — and I didn’t grow up in the Deep South. And, before anyone raises the issue, I’m not THAT old either.

   That we should be the free society we like to think ourselves to be is an important issue for all Americans.

   Meredith has authored a number of books in the years since his crusade for equality, but the best known is his clear and concise memoir of the period from his first application until his graduation from the University of Mississippi. The book is titled ‘‘Three Years in Mississippi’’ and I would like to share some thoughts on the book which I hope will encourage you to attend his presentation at the Jackson Center.

‘Three Years in Mississippi’

James Meredith was born in Kosciusko, Miss., on June 25, 1933. His grandfather had been a slave. He was the seventh of 13 children born to Moses ‘‘Cap’’ Meredith and was baptised only J.H. Meredith. He later adopted the names James Howard.

   In his book, Meredith describes his hometown. He described walking four miles each way to the African-American school in the town, where he was taught only by African-American teachers, none of whom had college educations because the state did not allow members of his race to attend most of their colleges.

   As he walked both directions each day, he was driven past by the modern school bus, carrying white students to the more modern and better equipped school which was reserved for white students only.

   A year before graduation, Meredith was sent by his father to stay with a relative who lived in Florida because he believed that graduating from the Florida high school might be more useful to him in his future. That year of study and his years in the U.S. military were the only times in his life which he lived outside the state of Mississippi.

   After high school, Meredith joined the U.S. Air Force, where he served nine years. During that time, he saved every penny of his pay, beyond what was needed to pay living expenses. With the money, he bought his father’s farm in Kosciusko when the older man decided to retire from active farming. He also saved a considerable sum, with which he hoped to continue his education when he left the service.

   Meredith also took advantage of every educational opportunity offered by the Air Force, acquiring many hours of credit from a number of different universities in several different states. He married and became the father of a son.

   Like New York State, the State of Mississippi provides a system of state universities, providing a lower cost education for state taxpayers than privately owned colleges and universities. Unlike New York, there is one institution which has a much better reputation, has much better facilities and which stands head and shoulders above the other institutions in the system.

   Chartered in 1844, more than 20 years before the Civil War, the University of Mississippi has a reputation as a ‘‘gentleman’s school,’’ where the children and grandchildren of alumni can get rather a good education, while working as much or as little as suits their personal lifestyles. The university’s popular name is ‘‘Ole Miss.’’

   In 1961, no African-American had ever studied in the university’s classrooms. Meredith’s family had paid taxes in support of the university at the same rates as whites and he believed he had as much right to study there as anyone else.

   ‘‘Three Years in Mississippi’’ recounts his continued application process. At first, the registrar was welcoming and encouraging up until Meredith specifically spelled out that he was ‘‘a Negro,’’ to use the term he uses himself throughout the book.

   Suddenly the university decided it had so many applications, it could accept no more, even though it had accepted many more in all of the previous years. His letters requesting to be informed of the next step in the application process remained unanswered until after the deadlines for the next step to have been taken.

   Eventually he filed suit in federal courts, claiming that contrary to the U.S. Constitution and the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court, he was being denied enrollment in the university for no other reason than his race.

   Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson was one of the justices to vote in support of the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling, which rejected the often-claimed situation that it was legal to require African-American and white citizens to remain separate, as long as equal facilities were provided to each.

   Throughout the book, Meredith is fiercely independent. He praises those he believes to deserve praise, regardless of on which side of the conflict they found themselves and he criticizes those whom he believes to have acted incorrectly, regardless of their race or personal involvement in his attempts.

   One issue which the author raises repeatedly is the fact that he chose independently to enroll in Ole Miss and he paid all of his own tuition and fees. Although various African-

American organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, offered legal advice and other assistance, he is outspoken in insisting that he was not chosen by any of those organizations to serve as a challenger to official racist policies.

   He spells out clearly the kinds of dangers he faced during his efforts. Previous Negro applicants had been lynched by white mobs. Others had been declared mentally ill and confined in mental institutions for the rest of their lives, while others had been accused of trumped up crimes and sentenced to life terms in prison.

   His description of his testimony in court at his first lawsuit, being questioned by an attorney for the State of Mississippi is truly blood chilling. The tone of condescension and hostility in an American court is stunning and when even the judge expresses surprise when Meredith proves capable of reading passages from his own application, although he had more than 90 college credits from other universities, that is an education in itself for the reader.

   Throughout the book, he speaks of those who oppose him in dignified manners. He never advocates violence in reaction against violence, nor usually uses terms such as ‘‘racist’’ or ‘‘bigot’’ against those who a opposed him. His descriptions of having food thrown at him, day after day while eating in the university cafeteria, having hateful names shouted at him and directed toward him in classes, being spat upon and the like are quite moving.

   It interested me that some members of the faculty supported his efforts and made efforts to see that he wasn’t completely isolated while a student there, while others publicly refused to teach him and even resigned and sought other employment, rather than do so. That white students who dared to speak to him or to eat at the same table in the cafeteria were bullied and sometimes beaten brutally is not a surprise.

   His language is direct and clean. His words are not colorful and often give no description other than identifying who did what and when, but the picture he creates is easy to understand.

   My one disappointment in the book is that such an outspoken and courageous advocate of the rights of citizens is occasionally paternalistic in describing women and even uses hate speech terms when describing homosexuals at Jackson State College, an institution for African-Americans in Mississippi, which he attended while pursuing admission to Ole Miss.

   Still, the book is easy, absorbing reading and I recommend it to you, along with attending Meredith’s presentation on Monday morning. The book was published by Indiana University Press, dated 1966. The hardcover edition has 328 pages and it sells for $32 on a popular bookseller’s Web site.

   It can be downloaded to your computer from Meredith’s own Web site for 99 cents or borrowed from any of the public libraries in Chautauqua or Cattaraugus Counties. The Warren Public Library also shows one or more copies for loan. Meredith’s site has this address: www.jamesmeredithbooks.com.

Since the book

On graduating from the University of Mississippi, Meredith continued his education at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria and at Columbia University in New York City where he earned a degree of doctor of laws. He eventually was employed as a stockbroker.

   His name has re-appeared in the news twice more. In 1966, he led a ‘‘March Against Fear,’’ from Memphis, Tenn., to Jackson, Miss., hoping to encourage African-Americans to defy the threats and bullying tactics which were being used to make them afraid to register to vote in Mississippi. That was the occasion of his being shot, although he eventually completed the march.

   In 1989, he again made headlines, when he joined the staff of Senator Jesse Helms, long an outspoken advocate of racism. Meredith insisted he had written to every member of both houses of Congress and Helms was the only one who answered his letter.

   In recent years, Meredith has spoken increasingly in conservative terms, refusing to accept being called a ‘‘civil rights leader’’ and blaming liberal whites as the principal cause of inequality for members of his race.

Ole Miss

Many things have changed in the nearly 50 years since Meredith first applied to the University of Mississippi, although many people would not agree that they have changed enough.

   During the 2006-2007 school year, the university is operating on a budget of $1.3 billion and boasts an invested endowment of $421.2 million. The university has a payroll of $544.4 million.

   The university boasts on its Web site that 18 percent of its 17,300 students are members of racial minorities. It doesn’t add that the population of Mississippi is 37 percent African-American, according to the U.S. Department of Statistics, and that doesn’t include other races which are included in the 18 percent.

   Tuition, fees and living costs for residents of Mississippi come to approximately $14,800 in the present school year. That compares with the figure of $5,441 which is quoted on the Web site of the State University of New York at Fredonia. That figure doesn’t include housing and other costs of living.

   I hope you’ve found this information helpful and that you will take advantage of the opportunity to hear what Meredith will have to say on Monday morning, if you can do so. I’ll look forward to seeing you there.

___________________

The Post-Journal

Jamestown, New York

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Volume 180, No. 275

Section C, Page 7