Integrating
Ole Miss:
WebQuest
In the fall of 1962 the college town of Oxford, Mississippi, erupted in violence. At the center of the
controversy stood James Meredith, an African-American who was attempting to register at the allwhite University of Mississippi, known as "Ole Miss." The JFK Library website lets visitors witness the
events firsthand through the actual letters, recorded telephone conversations, and images of those
who made history.
Follow the directions, navigate around the website, read the primary source documents, and answer
the questions.
Click on http://www.jfklibrary.org/meredith/home.html to start your quest.
 Click on the controversy
 Scroll down to the documents and click on Letter from James Meredith
to the U.S. Justice Department
 Read the document and answer the following questions:
1. What are the hardships and injustices that Meredith has faced in getting an education?
2. Why is Meredith writing the Justice Department? What is Meredith asking the Justice
Department to do?
 Go back to the documents and click on Governor Ross Barnett's Proclamation
to the People of Mississippi
 Read the document and answer the following questions:
1. What is Governor Barnett's position on the integration of the University of Mississippi?
2. How does Barnett put his argument in moral terms?
3. What is Barnett asking the citizens of Mississippi to do? Is it clear?
 Go back to the documents and click on Statement by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
 Read the document and answer the following questions:
1. How would you characterize RFK's statement? Does he leave any doubt as to the Federal
Government's future actions?
2. Does RFK use the word "principles" in the same way that Barnett did in his proclamation? To
what "principles" is RFK referring?
3. How do you think Barnett would respond to this statement?
 Click on James Meredith link
 Scroll down to the documents and click on Letter from James Meredith to the U.S. Justice
Department
 Read the document and answer the following questions:
1. What does James Meredith give as his main reasons for applying to the University of
Mississippi?
2. What obstacles does Meredith face in seeking admission to the University of Mississippi?
3. Meredith writes in his letter that, "It grieves me deeply to realize that an individual,
especially an American, the citizen of a free democratic nation, has to clamor with such
procedures in order to try to gain just a small amount of his civil and human rights." How do
you reconcile this statement with the fact that Meredith wrote an award winning essay entitled,
"Why I am Proud to be an American"?
 Go back to the documents and click on Letter from James H. Meredith to Thurgood Marshall
 Read the document and answer the following questions:
1. In the last paragraph of his letter Meredith outlines his reasons, in order of importance, for
applying to Ole Miss. Why do you think he has put his country before his race?
2. What does Meredith mean when he says that his "long cherished ambition has been to break
the monopoly on rights and privileges held by the whites of the state of Mississippi"?
3. If you were Thurgood Marshall, would you feel confident that Meredith is the right person to
desegregate the University of Mississippi? Why or why not?
 Click on public opinion
 Scroll down to the documents and click on Letter from a Moss Point, Mississippi Minister to
Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
 Read the document and answer the following questions:
1. How does this minister characterize the situation in Mississippi as of September 27, 1962?
2. Whom does he blame for the "critical nature of this situation"?
3. What does he say most Mississippians feel about segregation and why do they feel that way?
4. Based upon his discussions with people in the local barbershop, does the minister believe
that white Mississippians can be convinced Meredith has a right to be admitted to the University
of Mississippi?
 Go back to the documents and click on Editorial The Memphis Commercial Appeal
 Read the document and answer the following questions:
1. Does the author believe that the U.S. government is justified in intervening in the integration
of the University of Mississippi?
2. Why does the author feel that Mississippi residents should comply with the Supreme Court's
ruling?
3. What is the author's view of Governor Barnett's handling of this matter?
 Go back to the documents and click on Bumper Stickers from the Conflict
 Read the document and answer the following questions:
1. What does the phrase "The Castro Brothers 'Have Moved into the White House'" mean? What
perceptions of the Kennedy administration does this bumper sticker reveal?
2. What does the term "occupied" mean here?
3. What effect might the author hope to achieve by calling Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
"'lil' brother'"?
4. What does the phrase, "The SOUTH will RISE again!" mean? To what historical event does this
phrase refer?
 Click on days of confrontation
 Scroll down to the documents and click on Press Release: Text of Telegram from President
Kennedy to Governor Barnett
 Read the document and answer the following questions:
1. What specific information does President Kennedy want from Governor Barnett?
2. What is the significance of the President asking for the Governor's response in writing?
3. Why would the White House release the text of the telegram to the press?
 Go back to the documents and click on President Kennedy's Speech
 Read the document and answer the following questions:
1. What is President Kennedy's main objective in giving this televised speech?
2. How does the President try to appeal to the students of the University of Mississippi?
3. What does the President say the State of Mississippi and the University could have done to avoid
federal intervention in this matter?
 Go back to the documents and click on Telegram from Governor John Patterson of Alabama
to President Kennedy
 Read the document and answer the following questions:
1. Why would the use of federal troops or marshals in Mississippi be "catastrophic" according to
Governor Patterson's telegram?
2. Governor Patterson writes, "If you dispatch troops...it would be a sad day for democracy the
world over." Discuss the validity of this claim considering states' rights.
3. How would it be a "sad day for democracy" if the federal government did not send troops to
ensure the admission of James Meredith to the University of Mississippi.
 Click on aftermath
 Scroll down to the documents and click on Letter from James Meredith
to U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
 Read the document and answer the following questions:
1. In what ways does Meredith believe the federal government should help "the Mississippi
Negro in his struggle for a place in society"? What does this suggest about the risks taken by
Meredith and fellow Civil Rights activists?
2. At the end of his letter, Meredith states that the "Department of Justice has not succeeded in
making America free for all" because it has been "hampered" by a "lack of clear authority." How
does he hope the Department will be empowered to change this situation?
3. Meredith writes, "Today regardless of all other considerations, I am a graduate of the
University of Mississippi. For this I am proud of my Country -- the United States of America."
Please respond to this statement.