Despite being met with riots and resentment, Meredith established himself as a key figure in the university’s history when he became its first African American student in 1962. But what of his life in the years that followed?
Photographer Suzi Altman, longtime friend of Meredith, has unveiled a gallery in the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College focusing is on the life of Meredith. The exhibit features dozens of photos that Altman has taken of him over the years. The gallery will be available for viewing in the Great Room through Nov. 17.
On her first assignment with The New York Times, Altman was sent to Oxford for a story on the 40th anniversary of the desegregation of Ole Miss. Although she had lived in Mississippi for a couple years, Altman, a native New Yorker knew nothing of Meredith or the university, but on the advice of her neighbor, journalist Bill Minor, she found Meredith in the Jackson, Miss., phone book.
Altman knew that Meredith needed to be the focus of this story, so she went to meet and photograph him the next morning at his downtown Jackson automotive repair shop.
“I go down there, and he was polite and met me at 7:30 in the morning,” Altman said. “And he’s wearing a mechanic onesie and his Air Force hat and his beard is big and he doesn’t look like anything that anybody has seen of Meredith in the past 20 years.”
Many picture Meredith as the man from history books, polished and enshrined as a civil rights figure, so they might have been shocked to see him photographed casually in his work clothes. But it goes to show how down-to-earth and kind Meredith is — not one who needs constant attention, but one who wants to solve real problems.
“I turn around to thank him, and I go, ‘Oh hell, there’s my picture,’” Altman said. “He’s standing framed in the doorway, his name is above him on the sign that says ‘James Meredith Automotive’ with his phone number, and I whipped out my point-and-shoot camera and took four frames.”
This was the photo that sparked interest in Meredith’s life once again and created a lasting relationship between Meredith and Altman.
Four years later, when she was assigned to photograph Meredith again, she knew she could not pass up the opportunity. Armed with that copy of the Times featuring the iconic photo, she met Meredith for the second time.
“He looks at that picture and he starts going on about how important it was and is to him and how it was the most significant picture of him, more important than (the photo of) him walking into campus that first day,” Altman said. “He said, ‘That photo had my name and phone number,’ and when newspapers were big, that picture ran on the front page of every newspaper around the world.”
Altman even filed to trademark the “New Miss” brand for him. The brand was inspired after a friend gave Meredith a hat that looked like something from the Ole Miss bookstore, but instead said “New Miss.” The friend had said it was because the day Meredith stepped on campus, the old Mississippi was ushered out in favor of a newer, better Mississippi.
Altman took on the challenge of trying to create this brand, but has been in an ongoing legal battle with the university over trademark issues.
“If it continues the way it’s going, the university is going to have to explain what the brand means to them and what they’re protecting,” Altman said.
An unlikely pair, Meredith taught Altman about the South, Mississippi, systemic racism and his philosophy on life.
Altman and Meredith’s decades-long friendship culminated in the gallery of photos now on display in the Honors College. Visiting campus for the gallery’s reception, Meredith made it clear that he plans to continue a legacy on this campus — but not necessarily the one he started.
“I want to be known for teaching the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule and that Jesus Christ is the answer to all of our problems and all we have to do is stick to that,” Meredith said with conviction.
Although this goal is not necessarily rooted in race, Meredith is still concerned about race struggles in America and Mississippi specifically, because of the state’s infamous history of racism. This dark history, though, is also why he thinks that Mississippi students have the power to create change when it comes to racial division and systemic racism.
“I think the future of the world is in the hands of Ole Miss, because Mississippi is the center of the universe. Mississippi dominates everything that has to do with the black/white race (problems), and Mississippi has made every major policy since there’s been a black/white problem,” Meredith said. “Cotton controlled the international economy for over 150 years, so that puts Mississippi in the driver’s seat, and they remain in the driver’s seat.”
The solution he puts forth opens conversation about these issues. He believes Ole Miss students are uniquely positioned to open that conversation and finally find an answer.
“What I would want more than anything in the world is for the brilliant students at Ole Miss to write their opinion about what the real cause is that keeps the racial problem from being dealt with,” Meredith said.
