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.
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
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/
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
