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espn 30 for 30: Ghosts of Ole Miss

lafella said:
I can understand the words of the player whenhe said he hoped the film would be used to heal the wounds and not fester the up again. Sad and inspiring film all at the same time. I can't imagine what it was like for her. I'm sure she has some history to be told that is even more interesting.
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Yep. I've been being given a supplementary monologue. I hate to put it this way, but Alabama did learn from what happened at Ole Miss. Even Wallace, having changed his stripes and ridden the segregationist horse into office, had no stomach for it. So, he stuck to his deal with the Kennedys and the charade was played out. UA has turned its back on that past, in the main, but the atmosphere at Ole Miss is still poisoned. That Confederate naval banner had to be pried out of their hands. It's really sad and it's really, really complicated...
 
I just got done watching it and thought it was well done. It certainly stirred conflicting emotions for me. I could get on a soap box on states rights, but I will save that, or maybe take it to non-sports.

I will say this. It reminded me how much I have to teach my kids (7 and 4). There is a lot that they need to learn and surely will learn in history class in school. There is also a lot I hope they never learn.
 
I watched it the other night and I thought it went a long way to explaining why Ole Miss is getting rid of so many of their traditions and sympols. It seems that the school will do what ever it takes to put the riots behind them. I grew up in Alabama and so I didn't have a lot ok knowledge about what had happened in '62. Now that I'm living in Mississippi and am around a lot of Ole Miss fans, I've learned some of the traditions around Ole Miss. Personaly, I think they have some great traditions and it's a shame that they are being swept away. Like I said before, I understand a bit more why they are after watching the film, but I still don't like it. I think it's those traditions that make college football great. I could live with the school getting rid of the rebel flag, but the rest I think is going overboard. Replacing Col. Reb with the Black Bear and banning "From Dixie With Love" is just overkill in my book. On a side note, I love that song. I heard the band play it at the Grove once and it made the hair on my neck stand up. The only thing about that song that anyone had a problem with was the part where everyone chants "The south will rise again". As a guy born and raised in Alabama, I was chanting it right along with the Ole Miss faithful. I don't know how to tell Ole Miss to deal with it's past, but I think it's a shame that they feel the need to sacrifice their traditions to attone for one bad period in an otherwise rich history.
 
TIDE-HSV said:
Yep. I've been being given a supplementary monologue. I hate to put it this way, but Alabama did learn from what happened at Ole Miss. Even Wallace, having changed his stripes and ridden the segregationist horse into office, had no stomach for it. So, he stuck to his deal with the Kennedys and the charade was played out. UA has turned its back on that past, in the main, but the atmosphere at Ole Miss is still poisoned. That Confederate naval banner had to be pried out of their hands. It's really sad and it's really, really complicated...
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Earle, can you elaborate on this? Even as a 65-year old Alabamian, I don't think I've heard about this. Thanks!
 
TidefaninOS said:
Earle, can you elaborate on this? Even as a 65-year old Alabamian, I don't think I've heard about this. Thanks!
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It was the same deal Ross Barnett had and welshed on. The federalized National Guard and federal marshals marched with Hood and Malone to the door of Foster, where Wallace stood in the doorway. Wallace read his prepared statement and then, as prearranged, stepped aside and let them enter. I missed the action by a few days. I had graduated from law school just a few days earlier and had just left campus. Here's the Wiki link to it. It's pretty accurate...

LINK
 
confederate flags flew in bryant-denny when i was there from 91-95. and not just in the fraternity/KA section.
 
Earle, what was Coach Bryant's opinion of George Wallace? Were they friendly towards each other? Did he see his racial politics as a hinderance to the football program and the university as a whole? How hard did Bryant push integrating the football team?
 
Crimson1967 said:
Earle, what was Coach Bryant's opinion of George Wallace? Were they friendly towards each other? Did he see his racial politics as a hinderance to the football program and the university as a whole? How hard did Bryant push integrating the football team?
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I'm just dealing with my impressions here, since I wasn't close enough, and very few were, to Coach to know how he felt privately, but my impression was that he didn't have much affection for Wallace. From private remarks which leaked out, Bryant wanted to integrate the team years before he did. Knowing that, it's hard to imagine that he could have regarded Wallace as anything on earth other than an obstacle...
 
DiamondDust said:
If I'm not mistaken, the stand in the schoolhouse door was done just so Wallace could save face publicly.
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Ross Barnett did the same thing at Ole Miss. As James Meredith approached the registrar's office, flanked by federal marshalls, Barnett stood in the doorway. Barnett said "OK, which one of you is Meredith?" Meredith, of course, was the only non-white face within miles.
 
TIDE-HSV said:
It was the same deal Ross Barnett had and welshed on. The federalized National Guard and federal marshals marched with Hood and Malone to the door of Foster, where Wallace stood in the doorway. Wallace read his prepared statement and then, as prearranged, stepped aside and let them enter. I missed the action by a few days. I had graduated from law school just a few days earlier and had just left campus. Here's the Wiki link to it. It's pretty accurate...

LINK
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Thanks, Earle. I guess I didn't know, or had forgotten, that this was "prearranged".
 
acbl_phill said:
Yes, I agree on the producing. I think it's the same guy that did Roll Tide War Eagle. He also has a great voice, doesn't match his body though.
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It is. His name is Wright Thompson. Writes for ESPN, ESPN the Magazine, Grantland, etc. Has done some great articles on Bourbon FWIW ;)
 
acbl_phill said:
I love the song. It brings tears to my eyes. I love the south, I love Dixie. To me there is nothing racial about the song or loving the south.
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When the Civil War was over, it was none other than President Abraham Lincoln that announced that the Union armies had won back "Dixie." His words were: " . . . I thought 'Dixie' was one of the best tunes I ever heard . . . I have heard that our adversaries over the way had attempted to appropriate it. I insisted yesterday that we had fairly captured it . . . I presented the question to the Attorney General and he gave his opinion that it is our lawful prize. I asked the band to give us a good turn upon it."
In later years, when there was grumbling over America as our National Anthem, it is reported that Teddy Roosevelt suggested "Dixie" as a substitute.
Today, "Dixie" is making a slow and gradual comeback. Bands are again venturing to play it. Perhaps, when all the wounds and scars of the Civil War and the movement for equality have fully healed, "Dixie" will again be as popular as in the days when Dan Emmett so harmlessly composed it.
 
Bama1985 said:
When the Civil War was over, it was none other than President Abraham Lincoln that announced that the Union armies had won back "Dixie." His words were: " . . . I thought 'Dixie' was one of the best tunes I ever heard . . . I have heard that our adversaries over the way had attempted to appropriate it. I insisted yesterday that we had fairly captured it . . . I presented the question to the Attorney General and he gave his opinion that it is our lawful prize. I asked the band to give us a good turn upon it."
In later years, when there was grumbling over America as our National Anthem, it is reported that Teddy Roosevelt suggested "Dixie" as a substitute.
Today, "Dixie" is making a slow and gradual comeback. Bands are again venturing to play it. Perhaps, when all the wounds and scars of the Civil War and the movement for equality have fully healed, "Dixie" will again be as popular as in the days when Dan Emmett so harmlessly composed it.
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I have nothing against the words or music. I simply have different emotions, owing to my family history vis a vis the Confederacy. My great grandfather, having lost all his worldly goods to them, was no fan of it. About the kindest names he called them were "vipers" and "dogs," (referring to the politicians in Montgomery - not the soldiers)...
 
TIDE-HSV said:
I'm just dealing with my impressions here, since I wasn't close enough, and very few were, to Coach to know how he felt privately, but my impression was that he didn't have much affection for Wallace. From private remarks which leaked out, Bryant wanted to integrate the team years before he did. Knowing that, it's hard to imagine that he could have regarded Wallace as anything on earth other than an obstacle...
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Despite his desire to integrate earlier than everyone else wanted, didn't Bryant hold off partly because he felt that since he [Bryant] was a state employee, Wallace could fire him for integrating the team? I thought I had read that somewhere about CPB...
 
Because of this thread, I decided to get up early this morning and watch this. Very interesting. I really had no idea that ANY of that happened. Everyone hears about Gov Wallace on the steps of Alabama, but I had no idea that this played out at Ole Miss in 1962, a year earlier.
 
B1GTide said:
Because of this thread, I decided to get up early this morning and watch this. Very interesting. I really had no idea that ANY of that happened. Everyone hears about Gov Wallace on the steps of Alabama, but I had no idea that this played out at Ole Miss in 1962, a year earlier.
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Exactly. I'm from Alabama and I never learned this in any history class, high school or college. But Wallace, that's a different story.
 
My son's roomie--an Ole Miss classmate of his & an African American guy--has a pic taken a couple of years ago of himself standing in the Grove w/ James Meredith. One of the coolest pics ever, imo.
 
DiamondDust said:
If I'm not mistaken, the stand in the schoolhouse door was done just so Wallace could save face publicly.
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I did some research on the integration of college football for a history of modern civil rights movement class while in grad school and yes, it was all set up by Wallace and Kennedy. Wallace had no intentions of stopping them, it was all done strictly for politics.

Historically I thought the documentary was well done.
 
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