Introduction. "Everybody knows about Mississippi goddam" : the shootings of May 15, 1970 -- "A well conceived scheme to maintain racial segregation" : Jackson State College and the struggle for freedom -- "Wake up brothers and sisters" : civil rights, black power, and a changing campus -- "Buckshot, rifle slugs, a submachine gun" : the shootings at Jackson State College -- "They killed a bunch of black kids" : the struggles over the aftermath -- "The law says they can do it, and they did it" : the civil suit and the power of the law and order perspective -- "Largely unknown to the public" : race, law and order, and the struggle over memory -- Conclusion. "It was not a story to pass on" : the ongoing trauma of state violence.
Summary:
"This book recounts the death of two young African Americans, Phillip Gibbs and James Earl Green and the wounding of twelve others caused when white police and highway patrolmen opened fire on students in front of a women's dormitory at Jackson State College, a historically black college (HBCU) in May, 1970. It situates this story in the broader events of the civil rights and black power eras, emphasizing the role white supremacy played in causing the police violence and shaping their aftermath. A state school controlled by an all-white Board of Trustees, Jackson State had a reputation as a conservative campus where students faced expulsion for activism. By 1970, students were pushing back, responding to the evolving movement for African American freedom. It was this changing campus that law enforcement attacked, reflecting both traditional patterns of repression and the new logic and racially coded rhetoric of "law and order." In the aftermath, the victims and their survivors struggled unsuccessfully to find justice or a place in the nation's public memory. Despite multiple investigative commissions, two grand juries, and a civil suit, no officers were charged, no restitution was paid, and no apologies were offered. Overshadowed by the shooting of white students at Kent State University ten days earlier, the violence was routinely misunderstood as similar in cause, a story that evaded the essential role of race in causing it. Few besides the local African American community proved willing to remember. This book provides crucial history for understanding the ongoing crisis of state violence against people of color"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.