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James Meredith was the 2nd African-American to attend Ole Miss

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James Meredith was the 2nd African-American student at Ole Miss
Feb 11, 2014 Ole Miss News

Please note this is not a sports related article, but the interest in the topic just gave me a good reason to write about the story.[/I]
What if I were to tell you that James Meredith was not the first African-American to attend school at the University of Mississippi? That would completely change history right? I am about to introduce you to the story of Harry S. Murphy.
I was recently reading an article on CNN, about the story of Harry S. Murphy. I was so intrigued by the story, I just had to share it with you today. The article covers Murphy's story, which is based on Allyson Hobbs', a history professor from Stanford University, upcoming novel "A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life"[/I].
Harry S. Murphy came to Ole Miss in the fall of 1945. He made way by the U.S. V-12 Program. This program allowed young men to attend college and receive naval training. Murphy was black, but no one on the university committee knew Murphy's true race. This had to due with Murphy's light completion.
Murphy would even go on to say, that when he was enrolled at Ole Miss, no one ever questioned his race while attending at the school. He said, "I just assumed everyone thought I was white."
After his V-12 program ended, Murphy left Ole Miss and transferred to Morehouse College in Atlanta. Morehouse College was relatively known as a predominately black college, and no one from Ole Miss questioned his discussion to transfer to that school.
Murphy would go on to graduate at Morehouse, and would establish himself in the printing business. He would later move to New York. Sadly, Murphy would take his own life in 1991, at the age of 63. Reasons for the suicide went unknown.
In 1962, years after Murphy attended Ole Miss, he watched as James Meredith fought his way on campus to enroll at the university. He would observe the violence and the riots of protesting as Meredith made his way on campus. Murphy's response was simple, "they're fighting a battle they don't know they lost years ago."
This is truly an amazing story and interesting to see how history can just re-write itself at any moment. Allyson Hobbs' novel is scheduled to release in the fall of 2014.
 
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