5 CHAPTER ONE Federal marshals exit an airplane in Oxford Mississippi on September 30 1962 Sunday September 30 1962 was quiet in the small town of Oxford Mississippi On the campus of the University of Mississippi nearly half the students were gone for the weekend But the stillness was broken at approximately 3 30 p m Planes roared toward the town’s airport They carried 536 law enforcement officers Something big was about to happen at the university known as Ole Miss CONFLICT ON CAMPUS
Barnett’s Mixed Messages Governor Barnett told President John F Kennedy that he would obey federal orders But he sent a different message to the people of Mississippi He told them he supported segregation And when the riot at Ole Miss was starting he made a radio address He told the public that federal officers had brought Meredith onto school grounds He asked the crowd to avoid violence But he also said that the US government was oppressive 6 The officers were coming to protect an African-American man named James Meredith The young man wanted to register for classes at the previously all-white college He had applied and had been accepted to Ole Miss after a long court battle The US government had ordered the school to allow Meredith to attend But Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett was disobeying those orders He vowed to keep Meredith from signing up for classes Many whites throughout Mississippi were also against Meredith’s enrollment The officers arrived at the school a little after 4 00 p m They
Government officers form a line around the Lyceum as a crowd gathers surrounded the main building on campus called the Lyceum Approximately 400 people stood outside Most were students They wanted to protest Meredith’s admittance to the school The crowd grew to several thousand as the night went on Many nonstudents joined The head of the university urged the people to go back to their homes But the crowd did not listen What the crowd did not know was that Meredith was already there He had been secretly brought on 7
