In the nation's view of Mississippi and our people, we are
perhaps most thought of in a historical sense, framed by two
periods, the Civil War and the Civil Rights years. The
University of Mississippi's own image is seen through the prism
of those eras, particularly events that took place on the campus
nearly a half-century ago, when James Meredith came to enroll as
the university's first black student. Thousands engaged in angry
and violent riots in which two died, and thousands of Army
National Guardsmen were stationed in Oxford to assure the peace.
Mississippi was at the epicenter of Southern opposition to
equality and voting rights for its black citizens, who then, and
today, represent the largest minority population in any state of
the union. Civil Rights workers were slain here and burning
crosses lit the night skies as the Ku Klux Klan terrorized those
citizens who spoke out for their constitutional rights. These
horrible deeds and times are not forgotten, and as this new and
hopeful historic week unfo