July 5th, 2022
Today I met with my Practicum Advisor via Zoom!
I’m doing an archivist internship for my Archives & Special Collections practicum with Ole Miss. I will be working on digital transcriptions of letters that were sent to James Meredith, who was the first African American to attend Ole Miss in 1962.
Meredith served in the Air Force before attending Ole Miss and when he went to enroll he had to be escorted by the U.S. Marshals. A riot broke out and the Marshals had bricks and bullets hurled at them. Federal troops had to be brought in and by the end, 2 people died, 206 marshals and soldiers were wounded, and 200 people were arrested.
All because a Black man dared to be educated.
The letters he received while at Ole Miss that I am transcribing…some are beautiful.
He received letters from Rosa Parks, Josephine Baker, and Langston Hughes that are so kind.
Other letters, absolutely enraged me.
Mr. Meredith is 89 years old and still lives in Mississippi.
I am honored to be a part of this project but it just reinforces how very real racism is and how very recently these events took place.
Photo Credit: Bettmann/Corbis/AP Copyright: AP1962
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