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CHAPTER 11 CONFLICT, CHANGE, AND CONTINUITY 1960-1968 The quiet,peaceful way of life we had known was shattered. But still in our minds are memories of those wonderful days given only to college students at Ole Miss. OLE Miss, 1963 In a speech at Greenwood in early July 1962, ChancellorJ. D. Williams asked Ole Miss alumni to help him preserve academic freedom at the university. Six months later he was asking them to help him save the university itself. Ten days before his Greenwood speech, the fifth circuit court of appeals had ordered the admission of James Howard Meredith, an air force veteran from Kosciusko who was then enrolled at Jackson State College. Chancellor Williams and other university officials accepted the verdict of the court and began preparations for Meredith 's admission in the fall of 1962. Important though it was, breaking the color barrier at Ole Miss was only a part of Meredith's larger plan. He came back to Mississippi, he wrote, "to accomplish my divine mission." Meredith's mission was to change the system, to open the closed society that had shut him and other blacks out for so long. He began his assault on the closed society in September 1960 when he enrolled at Jackson State College. The election of President John Kennedy triggered his resolve, and, on January 21, 1961, the day after Kennedy was inaugurated, Meredith wrote to the University of Mississippi requesting a catalog and application forms. A week later he received a letter from registrar Robert B. Ellis saying, "We are very pleased to know of your interest in becoming a member of our student body.... If we can be of further help to you in making your enrollment plans, please let us know." Before returning his application, Meredith wrote the NAACP Legal Defense Fund requesting legal assistance in the event a costly court case was necessary to gain admission. Without waiting for a reply, Meredith 282 • C O N F L I C T , C H A N G E , AND C O N T I N U I T Y returned his application and added a historic postscript: "I sincerely hope that your attitude toward me as a potential member of your student body... will not change upon learning that I am not a white applicant . I am an American-Mississippi-Negro citizen." James Meredith genuinely hoped his admission could be achieved without violence and turmoil. In a letter along with his application, he wrote, "With all of the [changes] taking place in our country in the new age, I feel certain that this application does not come as a surprise to you. I certainly hope that this matter will be handled in a manner... complimentary to the University and the state of Mississippi I am very hopeful that the complications will be as few as possible." Meredith informed the registrar that he had not complied with the requirement of five letters of recommendation from Ole Miss alumni because the university's alumni in his home county were white and he did not know any of them personally. Since 1954 in-state applicants to Mississippi institutions of higher learning were required to furnish five letters of recommendation from alumni of the institution to which they were applying. In lieu of those letters, Meredith included five letters of recommendation from black citizens in his community. In the meantime , he asked the colleges he attended while in the air force to send his transcripts to the University of Mississippi. Meredith's application triggered a mechanism that had been in place since the late 19405. In accordance with an unwritten policy, the university sent copies of his application and other correspondence to the board office and six copies to the state attorney generals office. The board of trustees and state officials, in consort with the university, implemented a strategy to dissuade Meredith from his bid to break the color barrier at Ole Miss. Based on the surmise that Meredith would go away if they did not admit him, as Charles Dubra and Medgar Evers had, the strategy was set in motion with a February 4, 1961, telegram to Meredith from the registrar: FOR YOUR INFORMATION AND GUIDANCE IT HAS BEEN FOUND NECESSARY TO DISCONTINUE CONSIDERATION OF ALL APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION... RECEIVED AFTER JANUARY 25, 1962. YOUR APPLICATION WAS RECEIVED SUBSEQUENTTO SUCH DATE AND THUS WE MUST ADVISE YOU NOT TO APPEAR FOR REGISTRATION . [3.144.35.148] Project MUSE (2024-04-26...

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