Radio Rootz' This Day in History

• produced by Arturo Contreras
• in

The Mississippi State College Board voted that James H. Meredith, the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi, should not be barred from his graduation. This decision angered Governor Ross Barnett of Mississippi who had not only attempted to prevent James Meredith from graduating but had openly opposed his presence at the University since Meredith's first attempt to desegregate it. Governor Barnett made his feelings toward Meredith clear in a public speech he delivered at a University football game that year. In this degrading "I love Mississippi" speech, Barnett stated that he would never allow the University of Mississippi to be desegregated.