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This somehow reminds me of the story of the 27 year old African American civil rights activist, James Meredith and his sojourn as a student of the University of Ibadan in 1964.
The point is America was so bad for a young black man in the 60s, he had to come to Ibadan.
A thread. https://twitter.com/ber_xerxes/status/1277945524486836224
The point is America was so bad for a young black man in the 60s, he had to come to Ibadan.
A thread. https://twitter.com/ber_xerxes/status/1277945524486836224
Meredith had applied repeatedly to the all white University of Mississippi and was turned down on account of his race, even after a Supreme Court victory ordering the school to admit him.
It took President Kennedy deploying federal guards to escort him to enforce the Supreme Court verdict. When he arrived to register, a mob of students & local white roughnecks was waiting.
Bloody riots broke out, leading to the death of 2 students, with hundreds others wounded.
Bloody riots broke out, leading to the death of 2 students, with hundreds others wounded.
This was in 1962. 30,000 federal guards were eventually deployed to stop the rioting which had soon spread. Those Mississippi riots are often referred to as the last hold out of the confederates and the final battle of the American civil war.
But Meredith spent only one year at the Uni before graduating. In any case he had taken many course at a black college earlier, enough for him to graduate early. Life was quite unbearable for him in Mississippi. The following year he came to Ibadan.
Being under military protection 24 hours was too much of a price to pay for an education. It was all too much for a young man. Probably out of a need to experience university life on a campus where he didn’t particularly stand out racially, he applied to University of Ibadan.
He was admitted into the department of political science University of Ibadan in 1964, probably just to audit a few courses, as he spent only one year.
We don’t know much of his experience at Ibadan but he obviously enjoyed a good social and academic life.
We don’t know much of his experience at Ibadan but he obviously enjoyed a good social and academic life.
He was later to attend Columbia University and ran unsuccessfully for a Federal House of Representatives seat. He remains an active civil rights campaigner even in old age.
There’s a silent film of his time in Ibadan here: https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVA2BGELEUTI2305L1CUSI93UDAV-NIGERIA-JAMES-MEREDITH-AT-IBADAN-UNIVERSITY/query/Ibadan
