Events Set to Recall Ole Miss Integration

OXFORD – James Meredith’s enrollment at the University of Mississippi in 1962, a pivotal event in the American civil rights era, forever changed the university and state, opening educational opportunity to all.

The 50th anniversary of those chaotic times in which Meredith became the first black student at any formerly all-white Mississippi public institution will be observed by a series of educational events on the Ole Miss campus.

Over the next two weeks, Ole Miss offers a host of looks back and looks forward that are open to the public:

Tuesday, Sept. 25, 7 p.m., Overby Center – “Legacy: 50 Years of Integration at the University of Mississippi.” Andrew Harper and Matthew Graves present a 40-minute documentary film, with narrative.

Wednesday, Sept. 26, noon, Barnard Observatory – Brown Bag Lecture: “Legacies from the Battle of Ole Miss: The James Meredith Incident and the 1965 Southern Literary Festival.” Lecturer: Robert W. Hamblin, professor of English, Southeast Missouri State University

Wednesday, Sept. 26, 3 p.m., Barnard Observatory – Panel discussion with people who were on campus Sept. 30-Oct. 1, 1962. (A standing invitation is issued to any not already on the panel who were on campus during those days to participate.)

Thursday, Sept. 27, 7 p.m., Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts – Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College Convocation: “1962-2012: A Reflection on Civil Rights in America,” featuring U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder. Ticketed event – tickets available at the UM Box Office, 662-915-7411

Friday, Sept. 28

Mississippi Freedom Trail Marker Ceremony

Time and location to be determined.

Master of ceremonies: Andy Mullins

Sunday, Sept. 30 – Statewide Day of Remembrance:

6:30 p.m., Ford Center to the Lyceum – “A Walk of Reconciliation and Redemption” followed by a prayer service on the Lyceum steps led by local religious community.

Sunday, Sept. 30, 8 p.m., Ford Center – “REBELS: James Meredith amp& the Integration of Ole Miss” – a 52-minute documentary on the University in 1962 and in the 50 years since the admission of James Meredith, produced by UM Media and Documentary Services. Narrative by Andrew Harper and Matthew Graves.

Mon., Oct. 1, 9:30 a.m., Student Union Ballroom –

“The U.S. Marshals and Oxford – A 50th Anniversary Panel” – John Meredith, son of James Meredith; Don Forsht, Hershel Garner, Denzil N. “Bud” Staple, Curt Bowden and Robert Moore, retired deputy U.S. marshals; hosted by U.S. Marshals Service Historian David Turk

Monday, Oct. 1, 11 a.m., Student Union Lobby – Black Student Union Tribute to James Meredith

Monday, Oct. 1, 1:30 p.m., 1078 Robert C. Khayat Law Center – “A Lawyer’s Impact: Mississippi Burning” – lecture by John Doar, former assistant attorney general, U.S. Department of Justice

Monday, Oct. 1, 3 p.m., Overby Center – “Integration at Ole Miss – from an Army Perspective” – lecture by Henry Gallagher, author of “James Meredith and the Ole Miss Riot”

Monday, Oct. 1, 5:30 p.m., from UM Civil Rights monument between Lyceum and Library to Ford Center

“Meredith and Me: The Walk”

Monday, Oct. 1, 6 p.m., Ford Center – “50 Years of Integration, Opening the Closed Society” – keynote speaker, Harry Belafonte. Ticket required – overflow viewing available at Nutt Auditorium; reception follows in Ford Center lower lobby.

Tuesday, Oct. 2, noon, Faulkner Room of the J.D. Williams Library – “Finding JFK while Researching James Meredith at Ole Miss – A Collector’s Paradise” – discussion with Judge Tyrone K. Yates

Wednesday, Oct. 3, noon, Barnard Observatory – Brown Bag luncheon lecture : “Robert F. Kennedy in the Mississippi Delta,” by Ellen Meacham, Meek School of Journalism and New Media

Thursday, Oct. 4, 11 a.m., Overby Center – “Ole Miss after Meredith: Progress since 1962” – panel discussion with David Sansing, Don Cole, Valeria Ross and Gerald Walton

Wed., Oct. 10, 7:30 p.m., Nutt Auditorium – Gilder Jordan Lecture in Southern History: “So the Whole World Can See: Documentary Photography and Film in the Civil Rights Era,” by Grace Elizabeth Hale, University of Virginia

Tuesday-Saturday, Sept. 25 -Oct. 6, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., University Museum and Historic Houses – Exhibit: “A Difficult Road to Equality: Objects from Integration at Ole Miss”

Through October 2012, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Faulkner Room, J.D. Williams Library Exhibit: “We Shall March Ahead: Mississippi and the Civil Rights Movement.”