In this silent WSB newsfilm clip from Oxford, Mississippi in October 1962, federal troops sent to the University of Mississippi after rioting over the school's court-ordered integration set up camp near the Hemingway Stadium (now the Vaught-Hemingway Stadium) and maintain order on campus. The clip begins with the interior of an empty Hemingway Stadium; outside the stadium, armed men march. The marching men continue past the stadium and into an area with tents, jeeps, and a United States flag. Soldiers order a white man to get out of his car and apparently direct him towards the rear of the car in order to inspect it. A white crowd stands outside of a building, possibly Baxter Hall where African American student James Meredith was housed. 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 and Education 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, slashing truck tires, and burning the canvas tops of Army trucks. 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. 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 0 min.): black-and-white, silent ; 16 mm.

Original found in the WSB-TV newsfilm collection.

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of federal troops sent to the University of Mississippi after rioting following the school's court-ordered integration, Oxford, Mississippi, 1962 October, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 0822, 53:53/54:13, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Award Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga, as presented in the Digital Library of Georgia.

Forms part of: Civil Rights Digital Library.