Mississippi: The Most Racist State

When you think of racism, segregation and the civil rights movement, it is likely that the state of Mississippi is the first state that comes to mind. Whether it is it’s ugly historical past and the memories of the murders of 14-year-old Emmitt Till in 1955, Medgar Evers, or the three civil rights workers in Neshoba County, Miss., in 1964 (James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner). Or maybe your thoughts are of current day brutalities like the murder of James Craig Anderson in Jackson, Miss., on June 26 in which the 49-year-old African American autoworker was assaulted by a group of white teens and fatally run over in a truck, it is difficult to find any memories worth holding outside of the sake of history. However, there may be something that we will look at in future generations to be a turning point in the state for African Americans.

This week in Oxford, Miss., a historic first will occur on the level of James Howard Meredith became the first African American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi in 1962. The University made famous by its incessant use of the Rebel flag will graduate three African American students with doctorates in chemistry, approximately 6 percent of the annual national total. Not only is it a first for the university, but is most likely the first for any major predominantly white institution of higher learning and an exceptional number for any university. The recipients who received their degrees Friday were Kari Copeland of Coldwater,
Margo Montgomery of New Orleans and Jeffrey Veals of Gloster. A fourth African American student, Shanna Stoddard of Louisville, Ky., is on track to earn her doctorate in chemistry in December.