Mississippi honors man for college integration effort
The state of Mississippi is recognizing a man who sought to integrate a segregated university until he was falsely imprisoned and denied treatment for the cancer that claimed his life.
On Friday, the Mississippi Freedom Trail Task Force dedicated a historic marker acknowledging Forrest County native Clyde Kennard, a Black man who repeatedly tried to enroll at the all-white Mississippi Southern College, now the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, from 1955 to 1959 as part of an effort to desegregate higher education. It’s the trail’s 26th marker.
Ultimately, Kennard was falsely charged with stealing chicken feed and whiskey and sentenced to seven years at Mississippi’s State Penitentiary at Parchman. While there, he was diagnosed with cancer but was denied proper treatment until he was critically ill. Under pressure of bad publicity should Kennard die at Parchman, Gov. Ross Barnett ordered his release in spring 1963. He died that summer at age 36.
“He is most worthy to receive this recognition,” said Eddie A. Holloway, USM dean of students. “He plays such a significant role in the desegregation of schools in higher education in Mississippi. His life and legacy remains and should be marked or connoted by future generations.”
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