"NEGROES & WHITES WORK SIDE BY SIDE IN HARMONY"

ACCORDING TO ROSS BARNETT, MISSISSIPPI IS "A HAPPY LAND"

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) "The first big gun from Dixie to testify on the civil rights bill," Governor Ross Barnett* of Mississippi, described a Mississippi "that James Meredith** and other members of his race might not recognize."

Mary McGrory writes that the Governor pictured his state to the Senate Commerce Committee as "a happy land where Negroes and whites work side by side in peace and harmony."*

The Governor's explanation of the civil unrest that has spread across the country concerning equal rights is that it is "largely Communist-inspired."

JFK+50 NOTE

As governor, Ross Barnett arranged for the Freedom Riders to be arrested & imprisoned in 1961.  He was a staunch segregationist who never apologized for it.

*Ross Robert Barnett (1898-1987) was born in Standing Pine, Mississippi.  His father was a veteran of the Confederate army & RRB served in the US Army in WWI.  RRB was educated at the University of Mississippi & served as governor of the state 1960-1964.  

**James Howard Meredith (b. 1933) Kosciusko, MS was the 1st African-American to attend the University of Mississippi & earned his law degree at Columbia University Law School. 

SOURCE

"Barnett's Is a Happy State," by Mary McGrory, The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., July 13, 1963, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

Ross Barnett

Mississippi Dept of Archives & History

www.flickr.com/

"YOU ARE DESTROYING THE CONSTITUTION"

JFK SENDS TROOPS TO MISSISSIPPI TO RESTORE ORDER

Oxford, Mississippi (JFK+50) On October 1, 1962, 23,000 United States Army troops arrived on the campus of the University of Mississippi here in Oxford to restore order following rioting that resulted in the deaths of two persons.

President John F. Kennedy gave the order for deployment after rioting began on September 30.  The riots were sparked by the attempt of African-American James Meredith to enroll in the all-white state university.

On September 13, 1962, a federal court had ruled that James Meredith must be admitted by the university, but Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett* ordered state police to stand down.

The Governor was declared in contempt of court and Meredith was admitted to "Ole Miss" with the assistance of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy who dispatched 127 U.S. marshals, 316 border patrol agents and 97 Federal Bureau of Prisons officers.

Governor Barnett was forced to give in, but not without a parting shot in a radio address in which he said...

"Gentlemen, you are trampling on the sovereignty of this great state.  You are destroying the Constitution...May God have mercy on your souls." 

*Ross Robert Barnett (1898-1897) was born in Standing Pine, MS. & educated at Mississippi College & the University of Mississippi.  RRB served in WWI & became a member of the Dixiecrats, Southern Democrats supporting racial segregation.  He was Governor of Mississippi 1960-1964.

 

U.S. Army Trucks with U.S. Marshals

Oxford, Mississippi 

October 3, 1962

Photo by Jerry Huff, UPI

Library of Congress Image 

"THE WHITE MAN CANNOT BE TRULY FREE UNTIL ALL MEN HAVE THEIR RIGHTS"

JFK CONDEMNS MURDER OF CIVIL RIGHTS PROTESTER

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On April 24, 1963, President John F. Kennedy publicly condemned the murder of William Lewis Moore*, a postal worker and former Marine.

Mr. Moore became a civil rights advocate and marched solo seeking equal rights for all.  His first march was to Annapolis, Maryland and his second was to the White House.

The third march was to be from Chattanooga to Jackson, Mississippi where Moore planned to deliver his letter advocating civil rights to Governor Ross Barnett.  The letter included these words...

"The white man cannot be truly free himself until all men have their rights."

Seventy miles into the march on April 23, 1963, Mr. Moore's dead body was discovered in Attalla, near Gadsden, Alabama, along U.S. Highway 11.  He had been shot twice in the head with a .22 caliber pistol.  Moore was 35 years old.

*William Lewis Moore (1927-1963) was born in Binghamton, NY & raised in New York & Mississippi.  WLM was a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore when he suffered a mental breakdown.  After release from a medical institution, WLM became a civil rights advocate.

SOURCE

"The 'Mailman Murder':  The Death of William Moore (Gadsden, AL)," Civil Rights Teaching, www.civilrightsteaching.org/

IDEAS OF INTEGRATION & EQUAL RIGHTS NOT WELCOME IN MISSISSIPPI

GOV ROSS BARNETT CHARGED BY KENNEDY JUSTICE DEPT

New Orleans (JFK+50) On November 16, 1962, a federal district court here in New Orleans, Louisiana ordered the Kennedy Justice Department to charge Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett* and Lt. Governor Paul Johnson for impeding the admission of James Meredith to the University of Mississippi at Oxford.

The Justice Department fined the Governor and Lt. Governor $10,000 and sentenced them to jail for contempt.  The fines were never paid and the sentences were never served because the district court ruling was overturned in Appeals Court.

Willie Jamaal Wright says that when Freedom Riders arrived in Jackson, Mississippi, Governor Barnett ordered officers to "send (them) to Parchman Prison Farm** ...the most dreaded prison in the South."

Wright argues that the Governor's intent was "to show the Freedom Riders that they and their ideas of integration and equal rights were not welcome."

*Ross Barnett (1898-1987) was born in Standing Pine, Mississippi.  He was the son of a Confederate veteran and served in WWII.  RB graduated from Mississippi College in 1922 and after law school became one of the most successful trial attorneys in the state specializing in damage suits.  RB was governor of Mississippi from 1960 to 1964.  He returned to his law practice afterward and never regretted his stand against integration.

**Parchman Prison Farm (Mississippi State Penitentiary) is the only maximum security prison in the state.  Built in 1901, PPF is located in NW Mississippi.  The 1st group of Freedom Riders were brought here on June 15 1961 & a total of 300 were sent here.

SOURCE

"Here are the Freedom Songs of the Movement for Black Lives", by Willie Jamaal Wright, February 9, 2017, SCALAWAG, www.scalawagmagazine.org/

Ross Barnett 

January 1964

Mississippi Department of Archives and History

"BOBBY KENNEDY IS A HYPOCRITICAL LEFT WING BEATNIK"

FEDERAL TROOPS RESTORE ORDER IN MISSISSIPPI

Oxford, Mississippi (JFK+50) On October 1, 1962, 23,000 US troops sent to the campus of the University of Mississippi by President John F. Kennedy restored order after riots had broken out the previous day resulting in two deaths.

The riots came in response to the attempted enrollment at the all white university by African American, James Meredith*.  On September 13, a federal district court ruled that "Ole Miss" was required to admit Meredith, but Governor Ross Barnett** ordered state police to ignore the order.

After the governor was declared in contempt of court, Meredith was successfully admitted to the university with the assistance of US marshals.

Reacting to events which led to disagreements with the Kennedy administration, Governor Barnett said this about the Attorney General...

"Bobby Kennedy is a hypocritical left wing beatnik without a beard who...recklessly distorts the facts."

*James Howard Meredith was born in Mississippi & attended the University of Mississippi, Jackson State University & Columbia Law School.  JHM served in the USAF & became a writer & political adviser.

**Ross Robert Barnett (1898-1987) was born in Mississippi & served in the US Army during WWI.  RRB earned his law degree at the University of Mississippi & served as governor of Mississippi 1960-1964.

James Meredith

photo by Darrell Blakely (2007)