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WSB-TV newsfilm clip of reporters interviewing James Meredith, first African American student at the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi, 1962 October 1

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@ Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)

Description

In this WSB newsfilm clip from Oxford, Mississippi on October 1, 1962, reporters interview African American student James Meredith after he registers for classes at the University of Mississippi or "Ole Miss." The clip begins with Meredith leaving the Lyceum registration office building as he is escorted by federal marshals and watched by an Army National Guard military police. Reporters surround Meredith and question him about his role in integrating the university. When asked if he is having any second thoughts about integrating the school after two people died in the previous night's riot, Meredith responds that he is "very sorry that anyone had to get hurt or killed" but does not believe the question is fair. Meredith reports that he is getting along "just fine" in school and that the students he has seen have not appeared to react to his presence. When asked if he is lonely despite all the attention he is receiving, Meredith says, "I have been living a lonely life for a long time." African American James Meredith first applied to the University of Mississippi in January 1961. After his application was denied, Meredith, with the help of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, filed a federal lawsuit in May 1961. Following a series of court decisions and appeals, United States Supreme Court justice Hugo Black on September 10, 1962 ordered the university to admit Meredith; in response, Mississippi governor Ross Barnett threatened to close the university. Other Mississippi officials and members of the Board of...
Type:
Video
Contributors:
Meredith, James, 1933
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Record Contributed By

Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia