Thanks to a determined group of 17 graduating seniors at Florida State University, James Howard Meredith is fully home now. It’s time.
In cooperation with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, a class of Rhetorical Criticism students at FSU recently completed a project to install a historical marker in Meredith’s hometown of Kosciusko to celebrate his status as the first Black student at the University of Mississippi.
“I’ve been driving through Mississippi for years; occasionally, I drive through Attala County, where Mr. Meredith grew up and specifically the little community of Kosciusko,” said the students’ teacher, Davis Houck, the Fannie Lou Hamer Professor of Rhetorical Studies at FSU.
“I was very surprised that I could find nothing celebrating the fact that Meredith grew up there, and so I started asking some questions … Turns out it was true.”
Dr. Houck’s students worked in groups to create a historical sign to honor Meredith, who broke the color barrier at Ole Miss on Oct. 2, 1962, following three days and nights of rioting by students and civilians. Two non-students were killed in the melee, while dozens of students, citizens and reserve soldiers were injured. Some 300 rioters were arrested.
Ten months later, federal troops were still occupying the battle-torn campus. Bullet holes could be seen on campus buildings for years afterward.
Meredith, who had attended Jackson State University for two years, fought through the challenge of being the first Black student at Ole Miss to fulfill what he referred to as his childhood dream — graduating from the University of Mississippi. He took a degree in political science in August 1963 and later earned a law degree from Columbia University.
State historical markers are limited to 14 lines with only 42 characters per line, so Houck’s students had to be specific and thoughtful about what and how they commemorated.
“(This) was a chance to contribute to Meredith’s legacy,” FSU student Annie Blanchard said. “To know that we were helping in some small way to ensure he is forever remembered in his hometown was a humbling experience.”
Houck said their project received support from Meredith himself, his family and the Kosciusko community.
“I kept reminding (the students) that they were writing themselves into history, and we had to pause and think about what that meant,” Houck said. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History approved the class’ submission and began work in July to install the sign in Kosciusko, which occurred Dec. 20.
According to WAPT-TV in Jackson, Meredith, 91, wore a red Ole Miss baseball hat as he watched the marker’s unveiling from the front seat of a pickup truck. About 85 people attended, many snapping selfies with Meredith and his wife, Dr. Judy Alsobrooks Meredith (a former Jackson TV anchor and mass communications professor).
Meredith left Mississippi in August 1950 to serve his country. A decade later, he arrived back in Kosciusko, the county seat of Attala County, located almost squarely in the middle of the state.
In a memoir he wrote upon his return, Meredith took readers on a tour of his hometown, around the square and courthouse, past the police station, myriad Black-owned businesses and Wesley Memorial Chapel, the Methodist-Episcopal church where he was baptized.
He drove outside of town to the house of his youth and back to a new house his dying father had built for his wife.
“We had now come to the last minutes of our long journey from the airstrip in Japan to the dirt roads of my home state in Mississippi … When I made that last turn off East South Street onto the yet-unnamed street of my father’s home, the cloud of dust trailing the wheels of my car caused me to face the hard, cold fact that the price of freedom for myself and my people is indeed high,” Meredith wrote, considering the task ahead and the courage it would require.
Said Houck, “The wise men and women remind us that you can never go home, but James Meredith is home today, and that feels right. May this spot mark his forever home in the city of Kosciusko.”
Mac Gordon, a native of McComb, is a retired newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.
