Gwendolyn Elaine Armstrong
Gwendolyn E. Armstrong | |
---|---|
Education | Rowan High School |
Alma mater | University of Southern Mississippi |
Occupation(s) | Civil rights activist, jazz singer |
Known for | Integrating the University of Southern Mississippi at Hattiesburg |
Gwendolyn Elaine Armstrong was a black Mississippi pioneer in the Civil Rights Movement. In September, 1965, she and Raylawni Branch, both local natives, integrated the University of Southern Mississippi at Hattiesburg. They thus completed the process of breaking the segregation barriers at Mississippi's universities which had been begun by Clyde Kennard at (then) Mississippi Southern College (1956–61) and carried forward by James Meredith at the University of Mississippi (September, 1962) and Richard Holmes at Mississippi State University (July, 1965).
Biography
Armstrong was a 1965 graduate of Hattiesburg's Royal Street (then Rowan) High School. She wished to attend college but had to stay at home to care for her invalid mother. The NAACP offered to support her entry into the local segregated white university, and recruited local civil rights activist Raylawni Branch to enter with her as moral support.
This required considerable physical courage for both, but especially the inexperienced 18-year-old Armstrong. Having grown up in the black community of Hattiesburg, she was well aware of the notorious miscarriage of justice in which the last black (Clyde Kennard) to attempt to enroll at the university had been falsely sent to prison and an early death.[1][2]
By this time (September, 1965) both Ole Miss and Mississippi State University had been integrated – the former violently, the latter peacefully. The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission and University of Southern Mississippi leaders, such as President Dr. William David McCain, had earlier fought vociferously and successfully to thwart Clyde Kennard's attempts to enroll at (then) Mississippi Southern College. They had now come to realize that the battle to maintain segregation was lost. Therefore, McCain and his staff made extensive confidential plans for the admission and attendance of Armstrong and Branch. A faculty guardian and mentor was secretly appointed for each. The same campus police department which in 1959 had attempted to railroad Kennard to prison when he attempted to enroll, now had very strict orders to prevent or quickly stop any incident involving the two black students. Student athletic, social, and political leaders were recruited to keep the calm and protect the university from such bad publicity as Ole Miss had suffered from its reaction to James Meredith.[3][4]
As a result, Armstrong had only very minor negative experiences. She studied music and singing, and helped the university choir win a championship. According to Branch, they were "treated just like everybody else.".[3][4] In 1968 Armstrong (as Elaine Armstrong) pursued a brief career as a jazz styled singer recording in Nashville for a release on King Records.
The two women were accompanied by six bodyguards when on campus. The university administration appointed Dr. Geoffrey Fish, an oceanographer who taught biology as her guardian and tutor. Fish took a genuine interest in both women, gave them advice and jobs in work-study. He was very kind, listened to them, and was like a father figure to them.[3]
References
- ^ Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction, by Euan Hague (Editor), Heidi Beirich (Editor), Edward H. Sebesta (Editor), University of Texas Press (December 1, 2008) pp. 284-85
- ^ Tucker, William H. (May 30, 2007). The Funding of Scientific Racism: Wickliffe Draper and the Pioneer Fund. University of Illinois Press. pp. 165–166. ISBN 978-0-2520-2762-8.
- ^ a b c "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2005-05-06. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ a b "M335 Branch (Raylawni) Collection". Archived from the original on 2006-09-12. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
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- Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights
- Atlanta Student Movement
- Black Panther Party
- Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
- Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
- Committee for Freedom Now
- Committee on Appeal for Human Rights
- Council for United Civil Rights Leadership
- Council of Federated Organizations
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- Nation of Islam
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- Regional Council of Negro Leadership
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- Southern Regional Council
- Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
- The Freedom Singers
- United Auto Workers (UAW)
- Wednesdays in Mississippi
- Women's Political Council
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songs
- "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round"
- "If You Miss Me at the Back of the Bus"
- "Kumbaya"
- "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize"
- "Oh, Freedom"
- "This Little Light of Mine"
- "We Shall Not Be Moved"
- "We Shall Overcome"
- "Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed On Freedom)"
- Jim Crow laws
- Lynching in the United States
- Plessy v. Ferguson
- Buchanan v. Warley
- Hocutt v. Wilson
- Sweatt v. Painter
- Hernandez v. Texas
- Loving v. Virginia
- African-American women in the movement
- Jews in the civil rights movement
- Fifth Circuit Four
- 16th Street Baptist Church
- Kelly Ingram Park
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- Bethel Baptist Church
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- Holt Street Baptist Church
- Edmund Pettus Bridge
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- List of lynching victims in the United States
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- Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam
- "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence"
- Voter Education Project
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- African American founding fathers of the United States
- Eyes on the Prize
- In popular culture
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- King Center for Nonviolent Social Change
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- Mississippi Civil Rights Museum
- National Civil Rights Museum
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- St. Augustine Foot Soldiers Monument
historians