Archive: Bearing Witness in Mississippi

By Erica Landau & Marissa Colon-Margolies

September 26, 2008

In 1962, Mississippi was convulsed in violence as James Meredith enrolled as the first black student at Ole Miss. Tonight, the first African-American presidential candidate participates in a historic debate, Two reports from The Nation's archive shed light on those dramatic events forty six years ago and place tonight's event in context.

Sidna Brower, then editor of the University of Misssissippi student newspaper, conveys the drama of James Meredith's historic role as the first black student at Ole Miss. And a 1964 report by Howard Zinn, bears witness to the thousands of civil rights workers who converged in Mississippi to be part of an historic movement.

Mississippi Mud...

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About Erica Landau

Erica Landau is a Fall 2008 intern at The Nation more...

About Marissa Colón-Margolies

Marissa Colón-Margolies, a freelance writer living in Brooklyn, is a fall 2008 Nation intern. more...
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