The 2006 CRC Trip Day 9 - June 4th
Tom Bennett and Nancy Larraine Hoffmann
James Meredith and Bill Lee
The 2006 CRC trip is winding down and our last formal program on Sunday afternoon at Tougaloo College proved to be one of the very best. The students were not told about our guests until a short time before the session, and when they learned that James Meredith was one of the speakers, the level of excitement was evident. All of them have read in their history textbooks about Meredith’s campaign to desegregate the University of Mississippi. Coming face to face with a civil rights legend, listening to his story, having the chance to ask questions, was an extraordinary experience for our group.
James Meredith had the students introduce themselves and say a few words about their backgrounds and what they had been experiencing on the trip. He focused on the aftermath of hurricane Katrina with them and asked them to share their opinions of what should happen now in the Gulf coast region, based upon what they had seen and heard as they traveled in the area.
Mr. Meredith then explained something of his own background and how he came to the point in his life where he had decided to challenge segregation at “Ole Miss”. The CRC students were all familiar with what happened to James Meredith once he got to the campus, but the account of the background that led to his decision was particularly fascinating, and gave the students a valuable perspective on a momentous event in our history.
This was an unforgettable part of the trip, which was made even more special by the presence of Mr. Meredith’s sixteen-month old grand-daughter, Jamera. This adorable little girl quickly won the hearts of all of us, and her granddad ably juggled caring for her and talking to our group.
Along with James Meredith another special quest brought a powerful story about his growing up in Jim Crow Mississippi. Mr. Bill Lee, a prominent Jackson businessman, Colonel in the Mississippi National Guard, and historian, shared his perspective of living in the dominant white culture which tried to prevent James Meredith from attending the University of Mississippi.
Mr. Lee greeted our students with typical Southern warmth, and expressed that it was an honor to meet James Meredith and to be on the same program with a man of his historic stature. Mr. Lee then took time to explain in carefully thought out words that, to people from his background as descendents of slave owners, “preserving segregation was more important in Mississippi than religion.” Mr. Lee explained that white Southerners of the 50’s and 60’s felt that their way of life should be maintained at all costs in the face of changes imposed by the Federal government.
With Mr. Meredith and his granddaughter seated 6 feet in front of him, Bill Lee shared his perspective with the Civil Rights Connection students of the events at the Oxford ‘Ole Miss’ campus in 1962 when Meredith became the first black student to enroll, surrounded by federal troops and marshals to insure his safety in the face of violent resistance. In a state that reveres the sport of football, Mr. Lee, was a teenage football player, who wanted to travel to Oxford with his friends to show their support for Governor Ross Barnett. He told how Governor Barnett had rallied the crowd at a University of Mississippi football game during the half-time ceremony with a rousing defense of segregation as a way of life in Mississippi. Governor Barnett vowed he would not allow the Kennedy administration in Washington to destroy “Mississippi’s heritage.”
Mr. Lee did oin the demonstrations, but several of his friends did make the trip to Oxford. However, after witnessing the mob violence and the federal response to it, they returned with change of attitude. Seeing that the Federal will would indeed be forced upon Mississippi, Bill Lee described how many white Mississippians almost matter-of-factly accepted integration, and then gradually began to revise their own attitudes about race relations.
While Mr. Meredith nodded, Mr. Lee explained that the changes in attitude came slowly over years. Both men agreed that James Meredith’s admission to ‘Ole Miss was an important first step in that process.
Our students appreciated the open and honest way that Mr. Lee described his own change of heart from the days when he was a high school student their own age.
One of the most important exchanges occurred between the two speakers about how far Mississippi has come since those days. They both agreed that in spite of work remaining to be done, Mississippi today has a climate of tolerance in race relations that is far ahead of much of the rest of the nation. They seemed so proud of what has been accomplished and the hope this brings for the future. It was the perfect note on which to end this remarkable journey.