Second Negro Admitted to University of Mississippi

Press Release
May 29, 1963

Second Negro Admitted to University of Mississippi preview

Cite this item

  • Press Releases, Loose Pages. Second Negro Admitted to University of Mississippi, 1963. d56c6336-bd92-ee11-be37-6045bddb811f. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/0c75b129-bc55-4d84-b975-7ddd5a66e921/second-negro-admitted-to-university-of-mississippi. Accessed July 13, 2025.

    Copied!

    PRESS RELEASE @ a ) 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
10 COLUMBUS CIRCLE «+ NEW YORK19,N.Y. © JUdson 6-8397 

DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS JACK GREENBERG CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY 
President Director-Counsel Associate Counsel 

oS 

SECOND NEGRO ADMITTED TO 

UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI 

May 29, 1963 

New York — N.A.A.C.P. Legal Defense Fund attorneys won admission 

to the University of Mississippi for a second Negro student this week. 

Cleve McDowell, 21, won the right to enter the university's law 

school for the summer semester beginning June 5th when District Court 

Judge Sidney Mize issued on May 28th a Temporary Restraining Order 

against the Board of Trustees of state universities and the Registrar 

and Chancellor of the university. 

Attorneys Constance Baker Motley and Derrick Bell filed suit 

before Judge Mize yesterday, The judge issued the restraining order 

in open court. He set a hearing on a Preliminary Injunction in the 

case for June 3rd. 

Mr. McDowell had applied to law school last fall and was report- 

edly accepted by law school officials without the formal filing of 

case. His scholastic record at Jackson State College, from which he 

craduated this week, is excellent. The suit became necessary when 

the Board of Trustees voted to reject McDowell's application because 

of campus "unrest." Judge Mize said in issuing his order “in every 

respect, he has been shown to be qualified." 

Mr. McDowell is a close friend of James Meredith, who hopes to 

complete his work at the university this summer. Mrs. Motley on May 

28th also asked Judge Mize for an order requiring the university to 

grant Mr. Meredith married-student quarters for the summer term so 

that this wife and son can join him. Judge Mize set June 3rd as the 

date for a hearing on this motion,

Copyright notice

© NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

This collection and the tools to navigate it (the “Collection”) are available to the public for general educational and research purposes, as well as to preserve and contextualize the history of the content and materials it contains (the “Materials”). Like other archival collections, such as those found in libraries, LDF owns the physical source Materials that have been digitized for the Collection; however, LDF does not own the underlying copyright or other rights in all items and there are limits on how you can use the Materials. By accessing and using the Material, you acknowledge your agreement to the Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Materials.


Additional info

To the extent that LDF includes information about the Materials’ origins or ownership or provides summaries or transcripts of original source Materials, LDF does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy of such information, transcripts or summaries, and shall not be responsible for any inaccuracies.

Return to top