Ghosts of Ole Miss is a documentary film which premiered in 2012. It is an episode of the program called “30 for 30” which runs on the sports channel ESPN (season 02 episode 05).
The topic of this film is college football and civil rights in the deep south of the US.
The time is 1962. The place is the University of Mississippi, colloquially known as Ole Miss.
In 1962, the local football team (the Rebels) had their best season ever.
In 1962, an African American student (James Meredith) tried to enroll at Ole Miss, even though this school had a policy of whites-only.
Here is some basic information about this film:
** Director: Fritz Mitchell
** Writer and narrator: Wright Thompson
** Dixie performed by Kendel Carson
** Run time: 52 minutes
Several persons are interviewed in the film. The participants can be divided into two categories: football players and others. Here are the names of the participants (listed in alphabetical order):
# 1. Football players
** Bobby Boyd – Quarterback, Ole Miss, graduated 1964
** Woody Dabs – End, Ole Miss, graduated 1962
** Kenny Dill – Linebacker, Ole Miss, graduated 1964
** Glynn Griffing – Quarterback, Ole Miss, graduated 1963
** Louis Guy – Halfback, Ole Miss, graduated 1963
** Larry Leo Johnson – Wingback, Ole Miss, graduated 1963
** Sam Owen – Guard, Ole Miss, graduated 1964
** Jim Weatherly – Quarterback, Ole Miss, graduated 1964
# 2. Others
** Billy Ross Brown – commander of the National Guard 1962
** Kimbrely Dandridge – student body president, Ole Miss 2012
** William Doyle – author of the book An American Insurrection (2001) (2003)
** Henry Gallagher – Second Lieutenant, US Army 1962 – author of the book James Meredith and the Ole Miss Riot (2012)
** D. Gorton – student at Ole Miss 1963
** Jennifer Harmon – student at Ole Miss 1962-1963
** Dan Jones – Chancellor, Ole Miss since 2009
** Robert Khayat – Chancellor, Ole Miss 1995-2009
** James Meredith – student at Ole Miss 1962-1963 – author of the book Three Years in Mississippi (2019)
** Dan Rather – journalist - CBS News 1962-2006
** Charles K. Ross – Director, African American Studies, Ole Miss
** Curtis Wilkie – Professor of Journalism, Ole Miss
** Dick Wilson – student body president, Ole Miss 1962
** William Winter (1923-2020) – politician - governor of Mississippi 1980-1984
Archive footage is used between the talking heads. Archive footage is used to support and supplement the statements made by the talking heads.
Archive footage is used while the narrator is talking.
Archive footage includes video recordings of governor Ross Barnett as well as audio recordings of phone calls between governor Barnett and president John F. Kennedy.
CIVIL RIGHTS AND OLE MISS
James Meredith was born in Mississippi in 1933.
In 1950, he joined the US Air Force, which had been desegregated by President Truman in 1948. He served in this institution until 1959.
In 1962, he sent a message to Ole Miss. He said he wanted to study at the university. He received a positive response. Having received a positive response, he sent a second message.
He said he hoped they would not change their mind when he told them that he was not white. This time he received a short message which said: Don’t come!
James Meredith did not give up. He contacted Medgar Evers who was the leader of NAACP in Mississippi. Medgar Evers was ready to help. The NAACP was ready to help.
With assistance from Medgar Evers and the legal team of the NAACP, James Meredith took his case to court. When he won, the University appealed. The case went all the way to the US Supreme Court where the original verdict was upheld.
Ole Miss was told that they had to accept James Meredith, even though he was not white. No Black student had ever been accepted at Ole Miss. They did not like this.
Ross Barnett, the governor of the state, supported the University when they refused to accept the verdict of the court.
Now the conflict escalated. It was no longer a local problem. It became a national problem. President John F. Kennedy became involved. A confrontation between the federal government and the local state government was building up.
Step one: President Kennedy sent US Marshals to Mississippi. Under the protection of US Marshals, Meredith tried to enter the University in order to register as a student.
It was not possible. The Marshals were blocked by local police and a huge crowd of white students from Ole Miss.
Meredith was not welcome!
Step two: President Kennedy sent federal troops to Mississippi. It was the largest confrontation between the federal government and a state government since the civil war.
Two persons were killed and several were injured while the conflict was taking place. In the end, the US Marshals and the federal troops won. Meredith was allowed to enter and he was allowed to register as a student at Ole Miss.
Segregation had been broken. Ole Miss had been integrated. The University had accepted the first African American student in its history.
Even after he was enrolled, Meredith was not exactly welcomed by the white students. Some students organized a nasty campaign against him, hoping that he was going to give up and leave. The campaign included the following tactics:
** When Meredith wanted to go to sleep, students in the room above his room took turns banging a ball against the floor all night long in order to prevent him from sleeping.
** When Meredith entered the school cafeteria, most students would turn their backs on him in order to show him that they did not want him around.
Meredith did not give up. He studied political science. He studied for two semesters (one year). He graduated from Ole Miss in 1963.
THE FOOTBALL TEAM
In 1962, the local football team (the Rebels) had their best season ever, in spite of the huge conflict over segregation or perhaps because of the huge conflict over segregation.
The coach told the players that they had to show the rest of the US and the world that not everything about Ole Miss was bad. They could play football and they could do it well.
In 2012, the University wanted to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the 1962 season. The old players of the team from 1962 were invited to return to the University.
In 2012, James Meredith was invited to attend a football game at the local stadium. The invitation came from the Chancellor of the University.
Back in the 1960s, when Meredith was a student at the University, he could not attend a football game. There were too many people there. His safety could not be guaranteed.
Fifty years later, things had changed. In 2012, he was invited to return to the University. And this time he was given a warm welcome.
This film covers the history of Ole Miss and the history of the local football team with special focus on the year 1962 when the university was integrated and when the Rebels played their best season ever.
REVIEWS AND RATINGS
What do reviewers say about this film?
** On IMDb it has a rating of 67 percent.
** On Amazon there are at the moment 28 global ratings and 15 global reviews. The average rating is 4.4 stars which corresponds to a rating of 88 percent.
If you ask me, the rating on IMDb is too low, while the rating on Amazon is more appropriate.
This film is good but not great. There are some flaws. Let me explain:
# 1. There is a statue of James Meredith on the campus of Ole Miss. It was erected in 2006, 43 years after Meredith graduated from the University. The statue is seen in a few clips, but it is never mentioned. We are not told when it was erected.
# 2. The film is dominated by a white perspective. When we look at the talking heads, we can see that almost every head is white. There are exceptions, but not many:
** Charles K. Ross, director of African American Studies at Ole Miss, is an exception, but he is not given much time.
** Kimbrely Dandridge, student body president in 2012, is an exception. She is the first female and the first African American to hold this position.
CONCLUSION
I like this film and I want to give it a good rating, but as you can see there are some flaws which cannot be ignored.
I have to remove one star because of these flaws. Therefore, I think this film deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).
PS # 1. The screenplay of this film is based on a long report about college football, civil rights and Ole Miss in 1962 written by Wright Thompson before the film was made.
The report is available on the ESPN website:
PS # 2. The following review of the film is very negative, as you can see from the headline:
Will Eidam, “Ghosts of Ole Miss comes off as obtuse – Attempt at explaining a civil rights story is a mess,” The Austin Chronicle, 30 October 2012.
PS # 3. Medgar Evers was assassinated on 12 June 1963. He was shot while standing in front of his own house.
The story of his life and death is told in the movie For Us, the Living: The Medgar Evers Story which premiered on US television (PBS) in 1983.
PS # 4. Walk against Fear: James Meredith is a documentary film which premiered on the Smithsonian Channel in 2020.
** Director: Sol B. River
** Writer: Simon Boyce
** Narrator: Jeff Wilburn
** Run time: 44 minutes
REFERENCES
** An American Insurrection: James Meredith and the Battle at Oxford, Mississippi, 1962 by William Boyle (HC 2001) (PB 2002)
** The Price of Defiance: James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss by Charles W. Eagles (HC 2009) (PB 2014)
** James Meredith and the Ole Miss Riot: A Soldier’s Story by Henry T. Gallagher (2012)
** A Mission from God: A Memoir and Challenge for America by James Meredith (with William Doyle) (2012) (2016)
** Three Years in Mississippi by James Meredith (2019)
** James Meredith: Warrior and the America that created him by Meredith Coleman McGee (2019) (the author is the niece of James Meredith)
*****
Ghosts of Ole Miss
The football team (the Rebels) of 1962
(ESPN) (30 for 30)
(2012)
*****
The statue of James Meredith
Erected in 2006
*****
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