This silent WSB newsfilm clip from Oxford, Mississippi in October 1962 shows the University of Mississippi campus, white students on campus, and federal troops stationed at the university after an integration riot. The clip begins with white students observing a soldier with a "MP" armband stationed at the doorway of a building. Near the Hemingway Stadium, soldiers receive their rations in the temporary camp set up there. On campus, white men and women walk on sidewalks. Finally, soldiers check the trunk of a white man's car; other soldiers appear to guard a university entrance.

African American James Meredith first applied to the segregated University of Mississippi, or "Ole Miss," 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 state 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, and Molotov cocktails, and slashing truck tires and burning the canvas tops on Army trucks. Federal marshals responded by firing tear gas on the crowd and President Kennedy sent members federal troops to the campus. Two people were killed during the riot, and an estimated three hundred more were wounded. 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, silent ; 16 mm.

Original found in the WSB-TV newsfilm collection.

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of students and federal troops at the University of Mississippi campus after a riot protesting integration in Oxford, Mississippi, 1962 October, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 0822, 3:44/04:22, 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.