james meredith is enrolled at the university of mississippi. the school is technically integrated at the cost of two lives, almost 200 injuries, and the reputation of a state. now the questions are, was it worth it? [music playing] ross barnett: i could not pass this platform without first reaffirming fully my absolute and unshakable for segregation the races at all levels. [film reel] curtis wilkie: when he ran again in '67, i think, at the outset, people thought that he would be a hard figure to beat. [music playing - "let's roll again with ross"] all the reds in washington will say they hope ross will fall along the way. but we won't give our state to little bobby k. roll with ross, roll with ross, roll again with ross. who is the best man yet? ross barnett, ross barnett. curtis wilkie: barnett had a reputation of just kind of a blundering blunderbuss. and we all thought he was a complete buffoon, something of a fool. he was constantly doing goofy things. so he was a laughable figure of mythic proportions here in mississippi history. gerald

think the idea is everybody has a role or accepting people for who they are and not being -- the james meredith story, again all these folks that people have to get this book out. i'm going to go back because there are so many names, so many pieces folks are talking about the debate over critical race theory, what to talk about and where to talk about it and all that. a lot of this stuff i'm of the generation if they didn't teach it in church, i didn't learn it. so there is a richness here, but i think that the idea of the old school don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, like howell how dowe drill down on that beci thought about some parts of when you talked about the narrativees that it sounded like all lives matter but youou are saying we can't get caught up in some of thatt because we can't erase the impact that we have on the movement. >> there are some things that i may disagree with. [inaudible] that doesn't erase the fact he went to the university of mississippi and broke down the wall of segregation. the stories need to be told so iwe can have in appreciation. i remember right af

are the freedom rides in 1961, there is the integration of ole miss with the matriculation of james meredith in 1962. the same thing happens the university of alabama and 63. then there is the civil rights movements direct action campaign at birmingham. during the course of that campaign, when martin luther king is taken to jail and writes the famous letter from the birmingham jail, the weight of the civil rights cause is coming down on kennedy and his presidency. and it looks like he has to act, he's very reluctant to act and do anything other than to protect civil rights marchers. i've always wondered why he did it at that moment. it turns out that bobby kennedy, who was his brother's chief aide, most trusted and close adviser, it was down south to alabama and meets with george wallace. meets with horrific resistance down there. people are hurling epithets that him and treating him certainly not like he's the attorney general of the united states. interestingly enough, a more poignant for episode for bobby kennedy comes when he meets with james baldwin, the novelist. and a group of african

university of mississippi, 1962 where you had a similar militarized scenario just to make sure that james meredith a soul solitary black student wasn't torn limb from limb and not to mention to show it wasn't sectional the desegregation battle. in boston overbusting in the 1970s but i'm afraid to say that in a certain sense despite enormous progress since the marginalizing of hunting robson shirley graham dubois, w e b du bois at all. we still face a like problem. that is to say trying to develop some sort of global analysis. that would it wants shed light upon the dark conditions. we face in the united states. with the right wing on the march as evidence by the attempted coup of january 2021. and one thing that students of history know about attempted coups, is that particularly if the miscreants are not sufficiently punished. they'll come back for another bite at the apple. and we need to understand why this is happening and also the global context. which was revealed in the bob woodward. bob costs the book peril, which suggested that in order to save his sinking presidency once again in january

there's the integration of ole miss with a matriculation of james meredith in 1962. the same thing happens at the university of alabama in 63, and then there's the civil rights movements direct action campaign. birmingham and during the course of that campaign when martin luther king is taken to jail and writes the famous letter from the birmingham jail the the weight of the civil rights cause is coming down on kennedy in this presidency, and it looks like he's going to have to act he's very reluctant to act to do anything except for protect civil rights marchers. and i want i've always wondered why he did it at that moment. and it turns out that bobby kennedy who was his his brother's chief aide most trusted and close advisor goes down south to alabama and meets with george wallace and meets with just horrific resistance down there. you know, people are hurling episode him and and treating him certainly not like he's the attorney general of the united states, but interestingly enough a more. poignant episode for bobby kennedy comes when he meets with with james bald

everybody has a role or accepting people for who they are and not being the purest so, you know, the james meredith story right like again all these folks in there that people have to get this this book. i'm gonna have to go back through it because there are so many names so many pieces that you know folks are talking about the debate over critical race the what to talk about and where to talk about it and all of that a lot of this stuff, you know, i'm of a generation that if they didn't teach it to me in church, i didn't learn it right and so there's such richness here, but i really think this idea of the old school don't throw the baby out with the bathwater right? like how do we drill down on that more and more because the the lines i i thought about some parts of when you talked about narrative that it sounded like all lives matter, right but that you were saying like we're not going we can't get caught up on some of that because we can't erase the impact that he had on the movement. meredith did things that i may disagree with murder though came to new york and late 60s ran against adam creamp

it brings to life some household names including marshall and james meredith and also some things that may be a little more familiar. for many years and i was next to carter g woodsonelementary school. i did not know who he was, i found it in your book . we are joined by the author of the best-selling book how the word is passed: a reckoning of the history of slavery across america . those of you who have readhis book know that it is a miracle of talent . it takes us places where black and white americans interacted . one of his unique gifts is he can go to a place, observe, talk to anyone, ndhere things that are funny and also appalling and then reserve judgment and we're going to talk about how he manages to do that. >>. >> you had a book about in 2021 about a year after the murder of george floyd when this country was talking a great deal about having a reckoning over race. your we are in 2022 and i think a lot of people want to know if we really have to reckoning over race and racial justice. i wantto start with you , it is a reckoning in anysense . >> thanks everyone for being her

strictly carmichael for nikisic and other activists who pick up after james meredith was shot of with this march against fear to mississippi, and i think it's just good to remember the kind of relationship king developed with stokely carmichael and cleve sellers who told us that about that when he came to class on thursday during this march march relaxing was how how just glad he was to be going through mississippi being greeted by, you know, african-americans in these rural communities and and even though this was the the the mart where because of please harassment and being evicted from the school where they set up their camp overnight and all kinds of problems with the police carmichael had been arrested for several hours and he came out of that went to a major rallying greenwood and issued a call for black power and you know, that is but we've talked about that but it's um, it represented approach that had stick had been using, you know, black empowerment for a number of years, but it's really captured the attention of the nation and and got a real reaction. and what was king's vi