Who has the say when it comes to guaranteeing citizens their civil rights? Well this was an issue that was brought up when African Americans were guaranteed their Civil Right after it was signed into the constitution and made into law, the state of Mississippi then denied African American their Civil Rights. Civil Rights in Mississippi must guaranteed by the strength of federal law and its enforcement or suffer being sabotaged by state's rights and the laws of Mississippi. State tradition had long been the friend of segregation and the cruel enemy of integration. "Segregation in Mississippi was institutionalized and memorialized. Since 1911, a Confederate Monument stood on the whites that their fore-fathers had fought bravely against overwhelming odds to defend the Mississippi Way of Life, at the center of which were white supremacy and racial segregation " (Battle, 24). That was the case before the civil rights movement of the mid 1960's. Civil rights in general and integration in particular advanced very slowly throughout deep in south and especially in Mississippi.
William Faulkner quotes, "The past is never dead. It's not even past " (Battle, 31). In order word, Faulkner is saying that everyone came from somewhere and therefore has a past that still lives inside each individual so what happened previously influences what happens now. The roots of racism and bias in Mississippi run deep and have not been easily dug up. The traditions that have guided and perhaps still influence race relations in Mississippi are very old. They stem back to pre-civil war time.
In the Introduction, author Frank Lambert makes it clear that the book The Battle of Ole Miss is more than just a story of students. Lambert say, "This book is an attempt to understand the events at Ole Miss in 1962 by examining them primarily from the perspective of students. It is a story largely about students written primarily for students " (Battle, 3).
