James Meredith's Legacy: Integrate Mississippi Schools Essay

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The historical context of this document (a verbatim transcript of governor Ross Barnett) perfectly reflects the resistance that southern states put up in order to avoid integrating schools -- in this case, the University of Mississippi -- because Jim Crow laws were still in effect in southern states like Mississippi and Alabama. The earlier context to this document is the iconic Supreme Court case, Brown vs. Board of Education, which officially meant that all schools should be integrated and that segregation in education ("separate but equal") was unconstitutional. However, southern states ignored this Supreme Court decision and kept schools segregated because racism against African-Americans was part of the culture and the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement did not change the minds of bigoted politicians. Black folks were considered to be less worthy than white folks in many places and in many instances.

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There are several major points being made in this document, among them: a) the federal government has overstepped its authority in demanding that Mississippi open its doors to people of all ethnicities; b) the U.S. Constitution says that the power that is not given to the U.S. should be assumed by the states, and therefore the state of Mississippi has the power do decide who shall attend universities and who should not; c) states rights trump any federal laws and states have the right to resist the federal government because they have the right of self-determination; and d) those who are pushing for integration through protests are nothing but "professional agitators" and "paid propagandists."

This source, Governor Ross Barnett is arguing that his state doesn't have to abide by federal law and that the federal government is repugnant to the needs and values of the State of Mississippi.

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He is following an old strategy -- not just racism -- of "divide and conquer." A political leader intend on convincing his constituency of something important will use the tools of rhetoric to draw clear lines between his position and the position he is struggling against. If you make the federal government the evil force that is intruding on Mississippi's rights, then you have divided your people against the authority of the federal government. You conquer if you can get people to go along with you, and by using language that shocks the senses and gets people's attention, language that attacks rather than being purely descriptive, that kind of rhetoric helps a governor divide and conquer.

For example, using phrased like "naked and arbitrary power," and "the power of force" the government is painting a picture that sounds more like a foreign invader into an innocent country. "Naked" creates images of stark, even antisocial behavior; the phrase "naked aggression" has been used to describe invading forces coming into a sovereign nation, similar to what Nazi Germany did in showing naked aggression against Poland, France, and Holland. So Barnett has painted picture of marauding federal forces infiltrating the innocent state of Mississippi. This speech was no doubt written by a professional speech writer (not unusual for political leaders) because Ross Barnett was probably not skilled in the craft of creative narrative.

Saying that Mississippi has "majesty" as a "commonwealth" is a wildly ridiculous use of the English language; how could a state that refused to allow African-American children to have good schools and to attend….....

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"James Meredith's Legacy Integrate Mississippi Schools" (2014, April 29) Retrieved May 22, 2025, from
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"James Meredith's Legacy Integrate Mississippi Schools", 29 April 2014, Accessed.22 May. 2025,
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