Download e-book for kindle: Full Court Press: Mississippi State University, the Press, by Jason A. Peterson

During the civil rights period, Mississippi was once stuck within the hateful include of a white caste method that enforced segregation. instead of troubling the Closed Society, nation information media, by and large, marched in lockstep or, worse, promoted the continuing subservience of blacks. unusually, demanding situations from Mississippi�s collage basketball courts puzzled segregation�s validity and its gentleman�s contract that avoided collage groups within the Magnolia nation from taking part in opposed to built-in foes.

Mississippi kingdom collage stood on the leading edge of this conflict for equality within the kingdom with the school�s profitable university basketball application. From 1959 via 1963, the Maroons received 4 Southeastern convention basketball championships and created a dynasty within the South�s preeminent university athletic convention. besides the fact that, in all 4 title-winning seasons, the click feverishly debated the advantages of a countrywide Collegiate Athletic organization visual appeal for the Maroons, culminating in Mississippi country University�s participation within the built-in 1963 NCAA Championship.

Full court docket Press examines information articles, editorials, and columns released in Mississippi�s newspapers throughout the eight-year life of the gentleman�s contract that barred black participation, the demanding situations posed via Mississippi nation collage, and the following integration of faculty basketball. whereas the vast majority of newshounds hostile any attempt to combine, a section of activities newshounds, led by way of the charismatic Jimmie McDowell of the Jackson country Times, emerged as daring advocates for equality. Full court docket Presshighlights an ideological metamorphosis in the press in the course of the civil rights stream. The media, which had lengthy minimized the fight of blacks, slowly reworked into an that thought of the plight of black Mississippians on equivalent footing with whites.