(Photo from the Institute for Southern Studies)
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour wants you to believe that the South's great struggle with segregation was over by the time he came of age. His supposedly post-racial cohort "led the change of parties in the South," from Democratic to Republican, he says in an interview published yesterday by Human Events.
"My generation ... went to integrated schools," Gov. Barbour continues. "I went to integrated college -- never thought twice about it."
That didn't sound quite right to us, since Mississippi schools integrated only in 1970, years after the 62-year-old Barbour would have graduated from Yazoo City High School. He then went to Ole Miss, which admitted its first black freshman in 1964, according to Dr. Charles Eagles, an Ole Miss history professor and author of The Price of Defiance: James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss. That likely would have been either the year Mr. Barbour started at Ole Miss, or the year just before.
Another educator and civil rights historian tells us she knew Haley Barbour personally in Yazoo City. JoAnne Prichard Morris, co-author of Barefootin': Life Lessons from the Road to Freedom, taught a course in humanities in Yazoo City in the 1960s. She started in the white high school and transferred to the black one in 1969.
"Anybody who graduated from high school before 1970 in Mississippi did not go to an integrated school," she said. "Giving Haley the benefit of the doubt, he probably feels like he is of that generation, but he's not."
We'll have much more on this on the show tonight.
Being that I'm only 25 I find it sickening that Brown v. Board of Education was in 1954 and it took them 16 years to actually switch over? Just disgusting. Everyday I find out a new thing about the south and it makes me sick!
I started kindergarten in the fall of '54, just a couple of months after the Supreme Court issued its ruling. By stalling, segregated school districts made sure another whole generation of kids went through the entire public school experience in a segregated environment. It's a shame really.
I have a suspicion that a fair share of the opposition to public schools now is a lingering after-effect of desegregation in the 50's and 60's.
Don't blame Haley Barbour. His idea of 'integration' is probably that the kids whose dads were in the KKK went to school with the kids whose dads were not.
No, his version of "integration" is more likely that there's some black folk in our town, and we haven't lynched any of them in a few years. That's as close to integration as you had in early-60s Mississippi, when Mr Barbour would've been in high school......
I was stationed in Meridian, Mississippi in the mid-seventies. Many times I saw signs for "white" and "colored" facilities - and they weren't hanging up just for historical interest, either.
The powers of self-delusion are amazing.
Dad was in SAC he used to drive from Nebraska to Texas where mom was from on the weekends. Don't ask.
He used to bring some of the airmen with him who were around the same area in Texas. Colored. They usually had to stay in the car as they couldn't eat in the restaurants, though dad would make sure they got something on takeout. You'd get pretty good on how to follow the color line.
But that was normal for the times.
Most of that is long gone. Thank god. And I'm a Southerner. I hate how the GOP plays the race card and revises history.
It happened. It wasn't pretty. There should be no whitewashing of it. It was seen as normal.
Typical GOP talking points. Take every opportunity to show how stupid you are.
Perhaps early dementia is setting in, and he's forgotten what really went on. I'm 2 years younger, and still remember the news of little girls being murdered while they were going to Sunday School....
The Confederates still control the South, just as they have for the past 300 years. They control nearly every political office, judgeship, law enforcement and even the Presidency under Bush 2. They control the majority of the Supreme Court, have their own media (FOX) and will no doubt retake the country peacefully in the next couple elections. We as citizens were always taught that it would be the Commies or the Illuminati who'd rule us while it will be the Confederates all along.
Revisionist history is terrible but unfortunately it happens all the time and has throughout history. Reporting history is subjective , it is seen through the kaliedescope of one's feelings and perceptions, people twist history to do their bidding, as the governor has done in this instance. He has soiled the memory of those who were persecuted for the color of their skin. It's sickening.
I don't think our generation can wrap our heads around the Civil Rights movement @ David. Not that we can't historically understand it, but just the concept of being opposed to it I think is genuinely a foreign concept. For the record I'd like to explain a bit of what Barbour is talking about:
After WWII ended there was a great migration of population from condensed city areas into suburbia and rural life. A lot of this migration was people moving from the north to the south and creating what has been known as "The Sun Belt." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Belt) Sometimes you'll hear it referred to as the "Bible Belt" which is basically the same region, omitting the southwest and CA. The sun belt migration really took off during the 1950's and continued on basically until the 1970's. The majority of America's population is now a part of the sun belt (I believe it's 88%?). As people moved out of the cities, they began to adhere to a new age of conformity that started after WWII ended. It was basically a back lash response to WWII. The returning soldiers wanted to live a "normal" life and wanted to enjoy the fruits of manufacturing that were booming (like the microwave and auto-mo-car). There was a great cultural resilience towards the idea of leaving conformity- you went to church, women worked at home, you didn't complain, you had 2.5 children, you bought a house, you had a white picket fence and a dog. The term "Nuclear family" is often used to describe the age of conformity of the 50's. (http://www.flowofhistory.com/readings-flowcharts/the-world-since-1945/the-post-war-world-1945-60/fc142 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_family)
During all of this cultural shifting, the Democratic Party had majority control pretty much uninterrupted. The House of Representatives, for instance, were controlled pretty much universally from 1931-1995 by Democrats. The Senate and Presidency had more interruptions, but starting in 1932 and continuing on until 1968 the Senate and Presidency were almost always controlled by Democrats either both at a time or one at a time. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_(United_States) http://www.democrats.org/a/party/history.html).
In response to the age of conformity we experienced here in America, there was a sudden uprising (especially among younger generations) of anti-conformity sentiment. This would later spawn people like Elivs Presley and what we consider to be Rock N Roll, as well as the "beat nic" movement. The whole Vietnam backlash that happened in America during the presidency of LBJ was a cultural uprising of hippies whose existence pretty much started after WWII. This movement can be effectively called The Progressive movement. And it is from here that the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, etc. spawned. Now why is this important? Because the Republican Party was primarily considered to be a minority party, especially until FDR passed away and the 22nd Amendment was passed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution). In fact most historians will tell you the 22nd Amendment was passed to kick FDR out of office because Republicans felt that was the only way they'd ever regain the majority and maintain it.
Anyways, as the Civil Rights Act began to take momentum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964#By_party) there was a huge cultural clash between the "beat nic" generation and the "conformity" generation. As the in-fighting continued and continued between the two cultural ideologies (what's now known as our modern conservative movement versus the modern progressive movement) more and more people began to abandon the Democratic Party. As they did so, the Republican Party gained it's "Bible Belt" majority, a majority it still enjoys today. If you look at the voting lines of who voted for verus who voted against you will see the culturally speaking, it was almost all northerners versus southerners. You will also see a great deal of Democrats voted against the CRA.
The Democrats who were voting at the time have became today's conservative Republicans (at least for the most part). The Republicans who were voting at the time have became today's liberal Democrats (at least by and large).
This was one of the events (along with Vietnam, the Women's Rights Act, and FDR's New Deal) that caused the last great shift between the parties (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_the_United_States#Political_parties).
When Barbour says it was the "Old Democrats" who opposed the CRA, this is what he's talking about. When he says that he switched to the Republican party because of it's then more liberal agenda, he is partially correct. Although it should be noted, at the time he shifted, it had began it's movement toward, and was predominantly considered, the conservative/populist party and against things like the CRA. And it should also be noted, Mississippi had not integrated then (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_segregation_in_the_United_States;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desegregation;)
http://www.answers.com/topic/racial-integration
http://www.usm.edu/crdp/html/cd/desegregation.htm
Sorry thought I added these too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_subcultures_in_the_20th_century
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_and_roll
http://www.elvis.com/elvisology/
Actually, one reason for the migration to the South and the suburbs was something called "urban flight." Basicaly WW2 vets returned leaving the cities behind. The more affluent even moved south (thanks to the air conditioning) avoiding minorities (think Bush Sr. moving to Texas). The tax base in cities imploded and "urban decay" began. After integration, affluent whites began the move to gated communities to again flee minorities.
It was part of the industrial boom in the south. That's part of what Barbour was talking about, if you watched his speech. But you are right, without air conditioning it's likely that the great migration south wouldn't have happened or been sustainable. Ater integration, affluent whites began the move to gated communities to again flee minorities. That's part of the rural and suburban migration EK =).
Not only gated communities, but covenants that made you sell only to whites, and that only whites could rent your property. Those were common throughout the South, even up as far as Missouri and in some Northern states. They were still around in the 80s but were easier to throw out in court by then.
Sorry it saved before I was finished. What I meant to say was I left out urban flight because it didn't have to deal directly with Barbour's statements. But you are absolutely right. For the record, this is what EIK is talking about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_flight
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_stories/20100830_Air-conditioning__A_cool_idea_may_be_having_its_hottest_summer.html
Trust me - I graduated from high school in MS in the '60's and no way were any schools integrated at that time. Classmates were talking about it and how awful it would be if and when it happened! How embarrassing that the governor of the state where I was born and raised (but haven't lived in since '67) is such a liar! Equally sad that racism is still alive and well there even today. I've seen and heard it "up close and personal" on recent visits. Yes, sickening!
Barbour is sure he went to an integrated school in Yazoo City. Only problem is that the African-Americans he remembers were the janitorial staff and not students.
What Bull@!$%#!
I was a freshman at Ole Miss in 1971 and as a Northern Catholic Yankee was probably of one of the few groups that was actually hated more than "them uppity @!$%#s". We had no blacks on the football or basketball teams there were blacks on campus but they were damn near invisible. It was so bad that if I was stopped by a cop and asked for ID I always used my college student ID and spoke with a southern accent (as well as I could) and if they said "Y'all ain't from around here, are ya?" I always said I was from Kentucky because they had a real weird southern accent.
Being raised outside of Detroit (60 Mi.) in a rural county of Michigan (My high school had 3 black students out of 1600) I was pretty much used to the racial bull@!$%#, but the first experience I had in Oxford , MS was at 6am in a donut shop downtown Oxford. Three middle aged men were talking about going down to Philadelphia, MS and dealing with them "Uppity Nigras". At first I thought it was all a joke until about two days later I figured out these rednecks were for real--scared the @!$%# out of me. I made it to the end of the semester-hitch hiked out of MS- and moved to Chicago. Maybe I should have stayed in college but I learned more about racial equality on the streets of Chicago in a year than I would have in Mississippi in 30.
I'm 61. I was born and raised in Meridian, MS, and graduated from high school there in 1966. I feel certain that integration was not an event that any of us gave "no thought to" in those tumultuous days. While I don't know what was happening in Yazoo City, I do know what was happening in Meridian. The first year of integration at Meridian High School was 1966. I believe we had seven black students. I can prove it. I can show you my yearbook, in which someone (I don't know who; just someone who took my yearbook to sign it) went through and tried to erase all the photos of black students. That certainly wasn't done by someone who gave "no thought to" integration. My best guess, if Haley Barbour is 62, is that he graduated from high school in 1965.
Anyone see "Prom Night in Mississippi", a documentary by Paul Saltzman and Morgan Freeman. The first integrated prom in Charleston, Ms was in 2008 and paid for by Morgan Freeman. He first offered in 1997. Some kids were not allowed to go and their parents paid for an all white prom.
I just watched TRMS discussed Gov Barbour's commnets - with Mr. Robinson and how the Gov just made up crap about his history - please Rachel - can anyone ask the Gov why does MS still have a Confederate symbol part of their state flag - which the Gov was a big part of - I'm from MS (graduate of Southern Miss) - but I will NEVER live in a state where the state flag is so disgusting - can someone please ask the Gov about the MS State flag since he's such a GOOD GUY!!!
Quite simply, Barbour is lying through his teeth. I graduated from a MS high school in June, 1970, and it wasn't desegregated until after first semester.
Many of the public drinking fountains (White/Colored) were no longer as obvious by then, but they still hung in pairs. And gas stations (remember those?) still had three doors (Men/Women/Colored).
Barbour's a bit older than me, and he was right in the thick of it at an age to clearly realize exactly what was going on around him. What we might not have completely comprehended at 13-14, he must have been totally aware of at 18-20.
Gov. Barbour is a liar. Anybody who was witness to Mississippi in the 60's and 70's knows the truth and his statements are not.
my boyfriend says that it isn't a good idea that I attend the family reunion in Jackson because we are an inter-racial couple...it would be dangerous TODAY!!!
How very sad.
I just finished watching the TRMS call Gov Barbour on the carpet about attempting to make up crap regarding MS history – I really surprised Rachel or her staff didn’t point out that MS still has the Confederate as part of their state flag (which the Gov was a big part of) and insulting and disgusting that is for Africa Americans – Of course, the Gov Barbour is about as KKK as you can get; I’m from MS and graduated from Southern MS in 1975 and it was bad at Southern in 1975, but it was a Joke for Africa Americans at Ole MS. There is a reason why all of the Southern States are Republican – because the majority citizens are white, poor and not very educated and can easily be manipulated by “fear of blacks” and other techniques that will always keep the Southern State as Republican States. Its very unfortunate – I will never live in MS because of the State Flag!
My husband grew up in Yazoo City, and knew Haley, who is 2 years older. My husband went to Yazoo City High School, which was segregated until his senior year in 1967/68 (when he had a whopping 1 or 2 black students in his class). In other words, Haley Bubba is full of hot air - and a lot of Krispy Kremes as well.
My husband says to ask Haley to show us his yearbook and point out the black students. Yeah, didn't think so.
Rachel,
Being a huge fan of yours, a life-long Democrat and a devout Liberal, I must take offense to a statement you made and are making regarding Gov Barbour's video statement. You keep saying he couldn't have graduated from an integrated "HIGH SCHOOL"...he did not say he graduated from an integrated "High School"! Replay the tape again and LISTEN....He stated: "I went to integrated COLLEGE". It pains me to see someone of your level of intelligence and character, and an important Democratic voice, touting what would be considered Republican "truth", if by "truth" you mean whatever false statements you can make up out of thin air put forth as fact.
Please retract your statements, as they do more than merely discredit you, they reflect on us all as Democrats when one of us continues to re-write what was clear in the video.
At a time when Republican candidates like Jan Brewer, Sharon Bent-Andle, Sarah Palin, and the like are making outlandish statements of "truths"(see definition above), we as Democrats need to make sure we are both dotting our "I"'s and crossing all our "T"'s.
I am sure this was an oversight and you did not intentionally mean to mislead the audience...of that I am undoubtedly certain. I think maybe all your flying overseas to cover the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq may have you just a tad jet-lagged. Take a vacation from everything, mainly politics...and take your gurl to a quiet retreat for some well-deserved rest & recouperation.
Hugs full of luvs,
Chris
=)
High school or college, he lied, he tried to revise history and downplay the horrors of what was going on in the 60's in deep south.
From what was stated, he did not lie. He stated he graduated from an integrated college. Whether it had one or twenty black students really is not the issue. For ANY school in Mississippi to have ANY students of color in the 60's or early 70's would definitely be considered 'integrated'. Remember, this was a very tense time in the state, which still is struggling with equality to this day. He did not lie, he may have over-emphasized the level of integration, but if over-emphasis was considered a lie, every politician would be guilty.
Please understand, I do not support HB in any way, I support the TRUTH. When it comes to HB enrolling his children in the "all-white" private school, it is not surprising that the school was all-white. Most people of color living in Mississippi in the 70's did not have the income to support sending their children to private schools. This is by no means a put-down, just a statement of fact in the socio-economics of the era.
Tell me the truth, Democrat or Republican....but please refer first to Webster's dictionary for the definition of "TRUTH"...don't give me the political definition!
Now you're just making stuff up.
Here's the line: "My generation who went to integrated schools, or I went to integrated college, never thought twice about it."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/38983430#38983430
Will,
I don't know who you are saying is "making stuff up", but I will transcribe from the DVR which I replayed 6 times before writing the original comment....
HB: "...the people that led the change of parties in the south, just as I mentioned earlier, was my generation. My generation who went to integrated schools, or, I went to integrated college...never thought twice about it."
Rachel then continues to point out he couldn't have possibly graduated from an integrated High School because High Schools weren't integrated until 1970 when he graduated at their best guess in 1964 or 1965.
Please understand I support Rachel 1,000%...that's not a typo I meant one THOUSAND. I do however support the truth far more than I support any person. I did not post this as a put-down against Rachel, but a note of an incorrect statement made by her on her great show, which I record and watch EVERY DAY!
If we are too big to admit our own faults, what right do we have to criticize those we appose for theirs?
I like what you did, but your folks need to do a little more fact-checking themselves to further narrow the time lines you used. 1) Doubtful that HB graduated YCHS in '64 since he was born in October of '47...probably Class of '65; 2) Left Ole Miss in '68 to campaign for Nixon and still had about a year to go before graduating. Never actually got his BA, but still went on to get his JD from there in '73. So, by the time he got out of college, there were probably a few more blacks there than you estimated. Other than that, keep up the fight.
Can you please just ban them already? I appreciate that you're tyring to be tolerant but the racist sexiest prejudiced crap is really starting to get on my nerves.
I think that ole' H.B. lives back in the "Song of the South" days.... The best history seems to be revisionist history; please don't ever forget Medgar Evers. The real history of the south can't be glossed over.
Yeah...it just irks me I don't appreciate people coming onto here and throwing racist, sexist, or otherwise prejudiced epithets at people. Especially against gays, blacks, women, Muslims, and Arabs because all of those affect me personally. I know Newsvine tries to be tolerant and I know it's hard for them to decide when to and when not to limit free speech...but there was no reason for that. To disagree is to think something out respectfully, write out a clear and cogent comment, and provide counter facts. Attacking everyone's posts and calling Rachel or other people names for having the audacity to disagree with you is not just childish, it's downright wrong.
You aren't affecting Rachel Maddow, you're affecting people who have the audacity to watch her show and not disagree with her on everything. And she is no more or less snarky than any other political commentator on television. She is a far cry from Jon Stewart, Rush Limbaugh, or Sean Hannity when it comes to insults. I will give you she is no Anderson Cooper or Fahreed Zakaria or Brett Baier- but she has never billed herself as being that way and I sincerely doubt she has intention to be. You on the other hand are here specifically to attack people who have the audacity to disagree with you. You are not attempting to add to the conversation, you are not attempting to provide counter information, you are only here to make people feel bad for not supporting Haily Barbour or I guess Republicans or whatever it is that you're specifically looking to do. Your actions interrupt conversation and do not contribute in any way to this forum. That is why it is wrong.
WELL never mind then lol
David,
Sorry, but in times when the world seems to be coming to a virtual end...2 wars we shouldn't be in, 2 more in the Middle-East that are on the verge of errupting, the world economy in the gutter, unemployment in the country hovering around 10 percent, our Gulf Coast shores being trampled and destroyed by billions of gallons of oil, etc...
Rachel is one, if not the ONLY, news commentator who can shed some hope or bring you to a smile while listening to it. She is FAIR....this was an oversight on her part, I'm sure. I believe this so strongly, I am sure she will correct the error tomorrow on her show....watch and you may learn something. She has always corrected her errors in the past because she is a person of credibility and honor.
This is saddening. This report is inaccurate, since when is it required that there be an even mix of different ethnic backgrounds? Since when, is it required that black people have to attend Ole Miss? Since when is it a crime for parents to choose not to send their children to an expensive private school? 1. A desegregated school starts with the admittance of one child of a different ethnic background. 2. Comparatively speaking seeing 1 person of a different ethnic background can be a culture shock to most people when it happens for the first time in their school. 3. Did you ever consider the fact that there may not have been a means by which African Americans may not be able to afford private school, most especially considering the average income for people of all ethnic backgrounds was less than $20,000(est. based on data from 2000)? One last thing i would like to address, and that is the whole republican versus democrat idea as to who is more supportive of equal rights for African-Americans. Ignoring the whole southern democrat versus southern republican idea that Gov. Barbour introduces to the debate, Republicans have always been more accepting of African-Americans, or have you forgotten that the Republican President Abraham Lincoln saw the Civil War as an opportunity to correct the injustice that was slavery?
lolSouthernStrategylol
Yes, there was a time when the Republican Party was the progressive party. However, that was a loooooooong time ago. In fact, a hundred years ago both parties had progressive wings, Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson for examples. That began to change with FDR and the Great Depression. The number of progressive Republicans went into a steep decline and we may well be seeing the absolute end of that in our time.
Political parties are coalitions of different interest groups and these groups rearrange themselves from time to time. Since the days of FDR the majority of black voters have felt the Democrats served their interests better than the Republican Party. It's just a matter of policy choice.
Bailey.....I guess you missed the fire hoses at the Edmund Petus bridge. You know why African Americans could not get into an un-segregated Ole Miss; lack of a fair high school education, lack of fair paying jobs for blacks, etc. That is the real southern strategy, and it led to the need for equal opportunity options, that republicant's oppose. It is true that the Republican party did a much better job than the democrats at one time, but both parties have to do the right thing.
I researched MS and its political history last year for a documentary on poverty there. It became glaringly obvious that the "good ol' boy" politics (wink-wink, nod-nod) of present-day segregation in MS are influential in keeping it around 50th in the nation in categories like education, income per capita, healthcare, and quality of life issues, and among tops in the nation in obesity, infant mortality, high school dropout rates, etc. It's easy to keep a people down, once they're down; Haley Barbour embodies all the elements of the old south, cleverly packaged for modern voters. He knows "what to say" and they know "what it means". Does the rest of the US *really* aspire to be like Mississippi?? Look what he's done for his home state!!
Just another Rethuglican't rewriting History to fit their own agenda. What a fool to think he's not going to be fact-checked. How stupid does he think we are????
I graduated from high school in 1963 in St.Louis, MO. I can still see the grainy black and white news footage of Black students being escorted by National Guard troops into high schools and colleges in the South. I DID go to a fully integrated college....in ST. LOUIS! I can remember classmates signing up to spend their summers in AL and MS helping Blacks register to vote. I remember the "Private Schools" opening all over the South so that those White Southern darlings didn't have to sit next to one of "THEM". I remember quite well how St.Louis was an area of "de facto" segregation....St.Louis County was virtually all white while St.Louis City was virtually all Black. My memories of that time are quite vivid. Haley Barbour is a bigoted, Redneck liar.
I live in AL now. While there is apparently total integration here today, you can bet that it is only on the surface. True, Blacks and Whites attend the same schools, shop in the same stores, eat in the same restaurants, and live in the same neighborhoods (sometimes), but there is a very definite undercurrent of racism. You see it in the eyes of White man or woman who pushes ahead of the Black person in line at the grocery store. You can hear it in the voice of the White newscaster who reports on the crime in the heavily Black part of town. It's there, just not as overt as it was in the 60s and 70s.