In this WSB newsfilm clip from Oxford, Mississippi on October 1, 1962, reporters interview African American student James Meredith after he registers for classes at the University of Mississippi or "Ole Miss." The clip begins with Meredith leaving the Lyceum registration office building as he is escorted by federal marshals and watched by an Army National Guard military police. Reporters surround Meredith and question him about his role in integrating the university. When asked if he is having any second thoughts about integrating the school after two people died in the previous night's riot, Meredith responds that he is "very sorry that anyone had to get hurt or killed" but does not believe the question is fair. Meredith reports that he is getting along "just fine" in school and that the students he has seen have not appeared to react to his presence. When asked if he is lonely despite all the attention he is receiving, Meredith says, "I have been living a lonely life for a long time." African American James Meredith first applied to the University of Mississippi in January 1961. After his application was denied, Meredith, with the help of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, filed a federal lawsuit in May 1961. Following a series of court decisions and appeals, United States Supreme Court justice Hugo Black on September 10, 1962 ordered the university to admit Meredith; in response, Mississippi governor Ross Barnett threatened to close the university. Other Mississippi officials and members of the Board of Regents worked to obstruct Meredith's admission, causing the Fifth Circuit court of appeals to declare the university's Board of Trustees in contempt of court. United States President John F. Kennedy and attorney general Robert Kennedy worked with governor Barnett in an attempt to resolve the standoff between the state and the federal government. On Sunday, September 30, 1962 after federal marshals escorted Meredith onto campus white students and citizens rioted, throwing brickbats, lead pipes, Molotov cocktails, and slashing tires, and burning the Army trucks' canvas tops. Federal marshals responded by firing tear gas and President Kennedy sent federal troops to the campus. Two people were killed during the riot and an estimated three hundred were wounded. Meredith registered for classes the morning of October 1 and afterwards was escorted to a car and driven to his first class. The Army National Guard remained on campus until Meredith's graduation on August 18, 1963.

Title supplied by cataloger.

The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for digital conversion and description of the WSB-TV Newsfilm Collection.

1 clip (about 1 min.): black-and-white, sound ; 16 mm.

Original found in the WSB-TV newsfilm collection.

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of reporters interviewing James Meredith, first African American student at the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi, 1962 October 1, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 0820, 57:39/58:53, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga, as presented in the Digital Library of Georgia.

Forms part of: Civil Rights Digital Library.