The Battle of Ole Miss: Civil Rights V States' Rights

James Meredith broke the color barrier in 1962 as the first African American student at Ole Miss. The violent riot that followed would be one of the most deadly clashes of the civil rights era, seriously wounding scores of U.S. Marshals and killing two civilians, forcing the federal government to send thousands of soldiers to restore the peace. Frank Lambert, who was a student at Ole Miss at the time and witnessed many of these events, here provides an engaging narrative of the tumultuous period surrounding Meredith's arrival at the University of Mississippi. Lambert excels at conveying the students' perspective of the riot and its aftermath. He explores why James Meredith deemed it important enough to risk his life to enter Ole Miss and why many of the white students resisted Meredith's joining the school. Perhaps most important, Lambert captures the complex and confused reactions of the students, most of whom had never given race a second thought and many were not against Meredith attending Ole Miss.…