I have an honest question about James Meredith - from what little I can find out about him as a person (as his historical impact is widely out there - Ghosts of Ole Miss.. etc) he seems to be an extremely independent thinker and a conservative- seems like he was at great odds with the civil rights movement because he wanted to integrate Ole Miss on his journey to get an education that was rightfully his - what he didn’t want to do was develop a victim culture where the victim class would always need the civil rights movements to do things they felt “too helpless to do on their own” - I don’t see James Meredith the person spoken about much - even I. The 30 for 30 they seem to use him as a character in a movie - not a real person... or it is implied that he is or became mentally unstable due to his fight to be an Ole Miss graduate - just wondering if anyone could shed more light on this for me or recommend a book on him that’s not just the guy who fought to integrate Ole Miss...

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Posted by SidewalkTiger

Midwest, USA

Member since Dec 2019

52797 posts

Posted on 6/29/20 at 10:27 am to 45RCRoy45

He escaped from the plantation.

Most would refer to him as a "sellout" or "Uncle Tom."

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Posted by TigerStripes30

Alexandria, LA

Member since Dec 2011

6369 posts

Posted on 6/29/20 at 10:38 am to 45RCRoy45

quote:
independent thinker and a conservative

most independent thinkers are conservatives....ive never seen an independent thinker thats a liberal

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Posted by tiger91

In my own little world

Member since Nov 2005

36728 posts

Posted on 6/29/20 at 10:51 am to 45RCRoy45

My daughter and I were visiting Ole Miss and we were near the statue of him ... an older gentleman from California introduced himself to us an an alum and a benefactor for I believe the business school.

He went on to talk about being there at the time of James Meredith and that they were really good friends (this gentleman that we were speaking with was white). He said that JM didn't understand what all the fuss was about. Also said that when the Guard was called in JM was told by this guy basically "dude this is because of you" (the friend wasn't being ugly .. just pointing out as JM didn't understand). JM replied "all I want to do is get an education".

The gentleman that we spoke to was super nice and informative. I saw that JM recently was in a park in Jackson and people started talking with him about things going on ... I have to say that would have been interesting to have his take on it.

I wouldn't mind reading about him more as well.

This post was edited on 6/29/20 at 10:52 am

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