The Price of Defiance: James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss - Softcover

Eagles, Charles W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807832731 ISBN 13: 9780807832738

Publisher: University of North Carolina Press, 2009

Synopsis

After fighting a protracted legal battle, James Meredith broke the color barrier in 1962 as the first African American student at the University of Mississippi. The riot that followed his arrival on campus seriously wounded scores of U.S. marshals and killed two civilians, more casualties than any other clash of the civil rights era. To restore order, the Kennedy administration dispatched thousands of soldiers to Oxford. In The Price of Defiance, Charles Eagles shows that the stunning eruption of violence resulted from the "closed society's" long defiance of the civil rights movement and federal law. Using many previously untapped sources, including FBI and U.S. marshal files, army and university records, and Meredith's personal papers, Eagles provides invaluable background for understanding the historic moment by demonstrating the university's--and Mississippi's--history of aggressive resistance to desegregation from the post@-World War II years on, including the delib

About this title

Book Description:

"Has the potential to teach us all a great deal about who Meredith was and is and about a transformational event in Mississippi's history."--Sid Salter, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, syndicated review

From the Inside Flap:

When James Meredith enrolled as the first African American student at the University of Mississippi in 1962, the resulting riots produced more casualties than any other clash of the civil rights era. Eagles shows that the violence resulted from the university's and the state's long defiance of the civil rights movement and federal law. Ultimately, the price of such behavior--the price of defiance--was not only the murderous riot that rocked the nation and almost closed the university but also the nation's enduring scorn for Ole Miss and Mississippi. Eagles paints a remarkable portrait of Meredith himself by describing his unusual family background, his personal values, and his service in the U.S. Air Force, all of which prepared him for his experience at Ole Miss.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0807832731
• ISBN 13: 9780807832738
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 584