Academic Agitators in Mississippi: Advancing the Cause of Racial Equality at Millsaps College and Tougaloo College.

Title

Academic Agitators in Mississippi: Advancing the Cause of Racial Equality at Millsaps College and Tougaloo College.

Creator

Lowe, Maria

Morris, J. Clint

Pizzo, Madeline L.

Date

2014-09-16

Date Available

2014-09-16

Date Issued

2001

uri

https://collections.southwestern.edu/s/suscholar/item/25

Abstract

Academic Agitators” represents the first stage of a four-year project which examines the
involvement of college professors and administrators in the Southern civil rights movement in three active Southern civil rights states -- Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia. Based on archival research and in-depth interviews conducted in summer and fall 1999, the present exploratory study examines how and why university faculty and administrators at two private Mississippi colleges became involved in the struggle for racial justice between the years, 1954-1971. Preliminary findings suggest varied reasons for faculty and administrative involvement, including having both a fundamental belief in racial justice and a social network that supported such beliefs. Respondents differed in their strategies to combat segregation by participating in direct action protests, teaching classroom materials and participating in on-campus lectures that challenged the Mississippi status quo, educating their white peers, sending their children to desegregated public schools, and attending integrated events. Faculty protest strategies largely depended upon the degree to which their university administration and personal social network supported their activism.

Language

English

Relation

Brown Working Papers in the Arts and Sciences;2001, no. 3

Brown Working Papers in the Arts and Sciences

Subject

Academic Agitators

Racial justice

Southern civil rights movement

Millsaps College (Mississippi)

Tougaloo College (Mississippi)

Racial Equality

Type

Working Paper