Skip to main content

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of a reporter interviewing University of Mississippi history professor James W. Silver about Mississippi race relations in Oxford, Mississippi, 1964

View
@ Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)

Description

In this WSB newsfilm clip from 1964, an unidentified reporter interviews history professor James W. Silver of the University of Mississippi about race relations in Oxford, Mississippi.The clip begins in the middle of a comment by Professor James W. Silver to the unidentified reporter. Silver indicates that he is less pessimistic about race relations in Mississippi than he was several months ago, in part because he feels the people of Mississippi know changes are coming rapidly. Silver goes on to recognize that city and state officials in Mississippi have not changed their stance towards African American civil rights and integration.Asked about student opinions of the integration of the University of Mississippi, Silver clarifies that the school is not currently integrated. While James Meredith was admitted to the school in October 1962, he graduated in August 1963, and the second African American student admitted, Cleve McDonald, was expelled from the school September 24, 1963 for "perfectly legal reasons," according to Silver. He continues, expressing the students' preference for not being the center of media attention and for maintaining the University as it is, although Silver recognizes it will be impossible to do so. He adds that he is unaware of any more African Americans applying to enter the school at this time.After a break in the clip, the reporter conducts a sound test before turning back to Silver and asking him if he advocates more integration in his classroom teaching. Silver replies that he does not consider himself a "propagandist," but...
Type:
Video
Contributors:
Silver, James W. (James Wesley), 1907
View Original At:

Record Contributed By

Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia