We Believed We Were Immortal: Twelve Reporters Who Covered the 1962 Integration Crisis at Ole Miss

On the 55th anniversary of the 1962 crisis at Ole Miss, Kathleen Wickham traces the footsteps of twelve American journalists and explores the unsolved murder of Paul Guihard, a French reporter killed during the ensuing riot. When James Meredith sought to become the first African-American to enroll at the University of Mississippi, more than 300 reporters descended on the small town of Oxford only to face threats and beatings, snipers on rooftops, and a retired army general calling for a volunteer army to save the university. Bob Schieffer observes, Wickham gives well-deserved credit to twelve men and women who risked their lives to tell the story. TV cameraman Gordon Yoder and his wife Irene were attacked by protestors, and Fred Powledge of the Atlanta Journal bore witness. Karl Fleming of Newsweek and Life freelance-photographer Flip Schulke braved tear gas and snipers to obtain interviews and photos. Sidna Brower, student editor of The Mississippian, called for calm. State troopers turned Moses Newson of the Baltimore Afro-American away from the campus. Newsday s Michael Dorman sought to define the mood of the state through the writings of William Faulkner. Dorothy Gilliam of The Washington Post interviewed African-Americans living in Oxford. Neal Gregory of The Commercial Appeal sought out local ministers for insight and perspective. NBC s Richard Valeriani and CBS Dan Rather utilized the raw power of broadcast news; and Claude Sitton of the The New York Times rented a plane to cover news in the state capitol and the battle looming in Oxford.