How Far Ole' Miss Has Come

(CBS)  There were riots at the University of Mississippi when the school admitted its first black student, James Meredith, in 1962.

Now, the campus in Oxford has a statue in his honor.

That, as much as anything, symbolizes the social progress at Ole' Miss in the time since, reports Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith, who visited the campus ahead of the scheduled debate Friday between Barack Obama John McCain, assuming McCain shows up.

Mississippi was arguably America's most segregated state in '62. Civil rights would come, but grudgingly, Smith observed.

Almost 50 years have passed, and much has changed, Smith says.

"I was a little freshman at 18 years of age when I first entered ... in 1968," says Donald Cole, who lived through the transformation. He's now an assistant professor.

"When I first came," Cole continued, "there was no African-American faculty, no African-American administrators, and very few (African-American) students. It really wasn't until we embraced the concept, and our past, that I saw a change sort of take place over the years."

Black student enrollment at Ole' Miss has almost doubled in just the last decade.

And, especially on football Saturdays, the diverse student body rises as one.

Home to the Running Rebels, Ole' Miss is where the nation's most famous football father, Archie Manning, played. His number, 18, has become the speed limit on campus.

Ole' Miss also houses the largest blues archives in the U.S., much of it donated by the legendary BB King.

Best-selling novelist John Grisham went to law school there.

And recently, a statue was erected on campus to honor the courage of James Meredith.

The event slated for Friday night, Smith noted, was unimaginable when he bravely first set foot on campus.

[xmanborg]

Here is where Sarah Palin got her Foreign Policy Experience with Russia.

For several periods during the Pleitocene Ice Age, enormous glaciers froze much of the earth''''''''''''''''s water, lowering the sea level by 300 feet. The resulting drop in the oceans exposed an Alaska-Siberia"land bridge" between 40,000 and 13,000 years ago, creating a natural migration route for America''''''''''''''''s original inhabitants.

This is what Sarah Palin was talking about ,, NOW IT GET IT !

[kcslummin]

I''m glad to see Ole Miss is going to be holding the debates. I''m a good Northern Yankee and I enjoyed my time down in Oxford, Mississippi. The people were pleasant the music fabulous. It is really to bad the editors screwed up so much on this article and I can''t believe they mention John Grisham over William Faulkner. At least over all the article is in good taste. Go Obama!!!!

[mytoosense]

Clearly you are NOT from Mississippi and I wonder if you have any friends family there.
Posted by blazercoach1

No I am not nor do I know anyone from there.

I drove through your state several years ago and was quite impressed, it appeared very nice and the people we met were very friendly.

Given your state%u2019s past reputation, I was also impressed by the amount of cordial communication I saw between people of different races. Actually far better than where I am from which may be the most segregated and bigoted area of the country, Detroit Michigan.

[whiskyrokr]

Good ole Miss.

[blazercoach1]

mytoosense,

Keep the "change", my friend. Clearly you are NOT from Mississippi and I wonder if you have any friends family there. I do. People down there aren''t in a panic about what the government is going to do to take care of their problems. They are slowly but surely rebuilding on their own and are proud to do it. Unlike some states and people who are constantly looking for hand-outs and asking "what their country can do for them", Mississippi is asking what they can do for themselves and their country.

[easeup-2009]

Posted by svenskflicka at 12:12 PM : Sep 26, 2008

You are so right. This author is a moron. The Runnin'' Rebels are from UNLV.

Who edits this stuff?

[mytoosense]

We''ll see how far they have come on election day.
If they remain a Red State after the lack of support they got from Bush after Katrina, I''ll continue laughing at the joke- whats got four eyes and still cant see? Mississippi.

[svenskflicka]

The athletic teams at The University of Mississippi have been called the Rebels since 1935; they have never been referred to as the "Running" Rebels. The nickname of the University is Ole Miss, not Ole'' Miss, which would be pronounced "Olay Miss". If you had spent any time at all on campus and paid attention as journalists should, you would be aware of this.