[Broadsheet Printing Editorials from Various Southern Student Newspapers Reacting to the Heinous Reception of James Meredith on the Ole Miss Campus in 1962].
Atlanta, GA: Southern Regional Council, 1962. Broadsheet, 22 x 17 inches. Item #13267
An impactful broadsheet relating to the desegregation of the University of Mississippi, printing an artful collage of newspaper excerpts from various southern student newspapers decrying the horrid reception of James Meredith as he tried to become the first Black student at Ole Miss in the Fall of 1962. The editorials emanate from across the south, including university student newspapers in Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. There is also an additional letter sent by a graduate student at Ole Miss to a friend at the University of Texas. The position of the various editors is uniformly supportive of Meredith, presenting statements praising his courage and bemoaning the treatment he received at the formerly segregated university. The impetus for the broadsheet is summed up by an introductory blurb at the top of the work:
"The riots at the University of Mississippi this Fall made headlines round the world. And the students of that university won for themselves on the night of September 30 a reputation that will not soon be forgotten. But largely overlooked in the scores of stories about Ole Miss students was the reaction of other southern students to the Oxford crisis. That reaction is eloquently expressed in this selection of editorials and columns from southern student newspapers which appeared in the days following Oxford."
The work was produced by the Southern Regional Council, established in 1944 as a majority-white interracial organization. When the council decided to publicly condemn segregation in 1949, it cost the organization about half of its membership. Thereafter the SRC was generally supportive of efforts by African Americans and others to end legal segregation. The council also issued numerous reports on various conditions or efforts to improve conditions in the South.
OCLC records three institutional holdings, at the University of South Carolina, the University of Virginia, and the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Price: $850