Oxford, U.S.A. is a 16 mm documentary film about the integration of the University of Mississippi in 1962.[1] It promotes the segregationist cause by arguing that the federal government violated the U.S. Constitution it prohibitted segregation in public schools.[2] Three prints of the film were purchased by the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission,[1] a state agency established to defend and promote Mississippi's segregation practices against federal intervention in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision. A leader of the commission was scheduled to speak after a showing of the film.[3] The commission also funded the 1960 film The Message from Mississippi promoting the segregationist "way of life".[4]

The forty three minute, 16 mm film, produced by Patrick M. Sims of Sims Associates, a Dallas, Texas based company, includes news footage and interviews with officials and politicians including Governor Ross Barnett, Lieutenant Governor Paul B. Johnson, Jr., and Attorney General Joe T. Patterson.[5][1][6] According to the University of Mississippi libraries, the film was advertised with screenings on April 24, 26, and 27, 1963.[7]

Sovereignty Commission Director's reports catalogue its speakers bureau, pamphlets, newspaper propaganda program, and plans for an advertisement promoting the segregationist cause as well as screenings of the film.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Katagiri, Yasuhiro (2009-09-18). The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission: Civil Rights and States' Rights. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-4968-0125-8.
  2. ↑ Silver, James Wesley (1966). Mississippi: the Closed Society. Harcourt, Brace & World. p. 133.
  3. ↑ https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/45082/37.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
  4. ↑ Southern Exposure. Institute for Southern Studies. 1981. p. 83.
  5. ↑ "Oxford, U.S.A. / Sims Associates; produced by Patrick M. Sims". researchworks.oclc.org. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
  6. ↑ Graham, Allison; Monteith, Sharon (2011-09-12). The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 18: Media. Univ of North Carolina Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-8078-6913-0.
  7. ↑ "Inventory of the Race Relations Collection (MUM00377)". libraries.olemiss.edu.
  8. ↑ "Director's report -- August 1963".
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