newspaper, and authored a number of books, including a reminiscence about segregationist governor Ross Barnett titled I Rolled with Ross. Through the years, Johnston seemed conflicted between the romance of operating near the height of state power and the shame of doing the bidding of the white power structure. Following the release of the commission files, Johnston came under criticism for the agency’s excesses, and his claims of being a “practical segregationist” and “troubleshooter” failed to dissuade his detractors. He sat on a board dedicated to the preservation of historic papers for Tougaloo College, which he once spied on. He died in 1995.
J. P. Coleman: After leaving the governor’s office, Coleman went on to a distinguished career in government. Driven by a passion for public service, he ran for and won a seat in the state legislature in 1960 and was appointed a federal judge in 1965. He served on the federal court for 16 years. His legacy would always be compromised by the stroke of his pen that created the Sovereignty Commission. He died in 1991.
Aaron Henry : Persevering in his fight for integration and voting rights, Henry served as a community organizer, coalition builder, and respected leader. He was elected to the Mississippi State Legislature in 1982 and served until 1996. He died in 1997.
Clyde Kennard: After he succumbed to cancer in 1963, Kennard’s attempt to integrate Mississippi Southern College was reduced to a footnote in civil rights history. But then students at Lincolnshire High School in Illinois, along with the Center for Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University, persuaded Kennard’s accuser to recant the testimony that had led to Kennard’s conviction as an accomplice to the theft of five bags of chicken feed. In 2006 a judge in the same courtroom where Kennard had been found guilty back in 1960 vacated his conviction. In addition, a building has been named in his honor at the University of Southern Mississippi, formerly Mississippi Southern College.
Ross Barnett: After leaving the governor’s office in 1964, Barnett suffered a decline in popularity as word of his secret dealings with the Kennedys spread. He failed in a second bid for the governor’s office and faded from public view. He was reduced to speaking at white supremacist gatherings and playing accordion and telling stories at county fairs. He died in 1987.
James Meredith: After graduating from Ole Miss, Meredith was shot while leading a March Against Fear from Memphis to Jackson in 1966. Dr. Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders continued the march for him, and Meredith recovered from his wounds and rejoined the trek. Years later, in a dramatic shift, Meredith became a stockbroker, a member of the Republican Party, and a staff member of archconservative Senator Jesse Helms. He claimed that liberal Democrats were the greatest enemies of African Americans. He also wrote an 11-volume history of Mississippi. In 1997 he donated his personal papers to Ole Miss.
Byron De La Beckwith : After walking away free from two trials in the shooting death of Medgar Evers, “Delay Beckwith” went on to play a leadership role in white supremacist groups. In 1994, De La Beckwith was retried for the murder of Medgar Evers amid revelations that the Commission had intervened for the defense during the second trial. This time a jury of eight blacks and four whites found him guilty, and a judge sentenced him to life at Parchman Farm. He died in prison in 2001.
Percy Greene: Scorned as a sellout by many in the black community, Greene finally sold his newspaper and retired. As activist Fred Clark recalled, “They were paying him for those articles that he would write about black people…. He was wearing fine suits, smoking the best cigars, but deep down inside people around him didn’t like him because of how he was getting his money, off the blood of the black people. But he had
J. P. Coleman: After leaving the governor’s office, Coleman went on to a distinguished career in government. Driven by a passion for public service, he ran for and won a seat in the state legislature in 1960 and was appointed a federal judge in 1965. He served on the federal court for 16 years. His legacy would always be compromised by the stroke of his pen that created the Sovereignty Commission. He died in 1991.
Aaron Henry : Persevering in his fight for integration and voting rights, Henry served as a community organizer, coalition builder, and respected leader. He was elected to the Mississippi State Legislature in 1982 and served until 1996. He died in 1997.
Clyde Kennard: After he succumbed to cancer in 1963, Kennard’s attempt to integrate Mississippi Southern College was reduced to a footnote in civil rights history. But then students at Lincolnshire High School in Illinois, along with the Center for Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University, persuaded Kennard’s accuser to recant the testimony that had led to Kennard’s conviction as an accomplice to the theft of five bags of chicken feed. In 2006 a judge in the same courtroom where Kennard had been found guilty back in 1960 vacated his conviction. In addition, a building has been named in his honor at the University of Southern Mississippi, formerly Mississippi Southern College.
Ross Barnett: After leaving the governor’s office in 1964, Barnett suffered a decline in popularity as word of his secret dealings with the Kennedys spread. He failed in a second bid for the governor’s office and faded from public view. He was reduced to speaking at white supremacist gatherings and playing accordion and telling stories at county fairs. He died in 1987.
James Meredith: After graduating from Ole Miss, Meredith was shot while leading a March Against Fear from Memphis to Jackson in 1966. Dr. Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders continued the march for him, and Meredith recovered from his wounds and rejoined the trek. Years later, in a dramatic shift, Meredith became a stockbroker, a member of the Republican Party, and a staff member of archconservative Senator Jesse Helms. He claimed that liberal Democrats were the greatest enemies of African Americans. He also wrote an 11-volume history of Mississippi. In 1997 he donated his personal papers to Ole Miss.
Byron De La Beckwith : After walking away free from two trials in the shooting death of Medgar Evers, “Delay Beckwith” went on to play a leadership role in white supremacist groups. In 1994, De La Beckwith was retried for the murder of Medgar Evers amid revelations that the Commission had intervened for the defense during the second trial. This time a jury of eight blacks and four whites found him guilty, and a judge sentenced him to life at Parchman Farm. He died in prison in 2001.
Percy Greene: Scorned as a sellout by many in the black community, Greene finally sold his newspaper and retired. As activist Fred Clark recalled, “They were paying him for those articles that he would write about black people…. He was wearing fine suits, smoking the best cigars, but deep down inside people around him didn’t like him because of how he was getting his money, off the blood of the black people. But he had
Similar Books
