Mississippi’s Forgotten Son: Billy Barton and his Journalistic Battle for Redemption in the Closed Society
Jason Peterson, Charleston Southern University
As a journalism major at the University of Mississippi, Billy Barton would spend the summer of 1960 working at the Atlanta Journal with the hope that his experience in Georgia’s capital city would prepare him for the eventual editorship of the Mississippian, Ole Miss’ student newspaper. Tasked with serving as a correspondent during a sit-in at the Rich’s Department Store in downtown Atlanta, Barton was misidentified as a participant and member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People by W. A. Lufburrow, a fellow intern and the executive secretary of the States’ Rights Council of Georgia. Lufburrow reported Barton’s alleged activity to the Mississippi Citizens’ Council, who would describe the Ole Miss student to the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission as “very dangerous.”
Upon returning to the Oxford that fall, Barton was subjected to an incendiary effort by the Sovereignty Commission to prevent his election to the editorship of the Mississippian. Although Barton professed his innocence in a letter to Governor Ross Barnett, the student journalist remained a target in the Magnolia State. Seemingly out of options, Barton took to the press in 1961 as a means of clearing his name, igniting a series of debates as to the legitimacy of the claims against the Ole Miss student and the intrusive reach of the political elite in Mississippi. Barton would eventually fail in his efforts to become editor of his beloved student newspaper and subsequent libel and slander lawsuits filed against Barnett and the Sovereignty Commission in 1962 ended in dismissal.
This article examines both the work of Barton as a student journalist and the 178 news accounts, editorials, and columns that addressed the student journalist’s attempt to clear his name in the volatile atmosphere of civil rights-era Mississippi. All of the accounts consulted were published between March 11, 1961, when Barton’s claims against the state came to light, through July 3, 1962, when his efforts to sue the state for libel and slander were dismissed.
The newspapers selected were chosen based upon circulation rates and the individual editors’ views on issues of race per secondary sources. Issues of the Mississippian were also examined from August 1960 through the end of Barton’s tenure at the student newspaper in June 1962 for both the journalistic work of the Ole Miss student and the paper’s coverage of one of their own. Documentation from the State Sovereignty Commission files through the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the Allen Eugene Cox Papers from Mississippi State University, both of which included the various correspondences concerning Barton and his misidentification as an integrationist, were also consulted in this inquiry.
While the proprietors of Mississippi’s so-called “Closed Society” commonly targeted journalists within the professional ranks who advocated civil rights, Barton was an anomaly of sorts as a college journalist. The mere presence of Barton on the Ole Miss campus, regardless of the legitimacy of the rumors surrounding his political leanings, was viewed as a blight to the Closed Society and demonstrated the extent to which Mississippi’s white dominated political structure would go to eliminate any perceived threats. The salacious attacks on Barton’s person by Barnett, the Sovereignty Commission, and the Citizens’ Council generated one of three responses from the press in Mississippi. Reporters and editors within the state either turned a blind eye to the issue, offering little in terms of editorial commentary and relying on wire accounts from the Associated Press and United Press International; supported the state’s claims against Barton, typically through editorials minimizing the impact the state’s smear campaign had on the Ole Miss student; or provided an aura of legitimacy to Barton’s case, supplying original reporting to the audience and speaking out in defense of the college student.
Despite the support of editors such as Hodding Carter, Jr. of the Delta Democrat-Times, who complemented the student on his “refusal to play dead,” the segregationist voices in Mississippi’s press, led by the Jackson Daily News and the Clarion-Ledger, would be too much for the college journalist to overcome. Due to the reach and influence of the aforementioned newspapers, individuals within the state likely interpreted the Ole Miss student’s efforts as a political ploy rather than a deliberate and concerned attack on Barton’s character, demonstrating the power of Mississippi’s segregationist press.
After students have read the article, use the following as assignments or to facilitate class discussion:
- As noted within the article, it was not uncommon for segregationist newspapers like the Jackson Daily News and the Clarion-Ledger to attack their journalistic brethren within the Magnolia State over ideological differences. Should the student press be free of such criticisms? If so, explain. If not, under what circumstances should the student press face the same criticisms as their professional counterparts?
- Both the Jackson Daily News and the Clarion-Ledger served as journalistic protectors of segregation in Mississippi during the civil rights movement. These newspapers gained a reputation for ignoring matters of race and using their editorial platforms to denounce equality. Compare the work on Barton by these newspapers and contrast said coverage with the rules for a free press as outlined by the Hutchins Commission in 1947. Identify and explain any possible violation of the findings by the Hutchins Commission by aforementioned publications.
- Editorials, columns, and other opinion-based forums proved to be a vital resource in this inquiry. Identify an event from the civil rights movement and, using archival material, examine editorials and/or columns from select newspapers based upon their geographic location. For example, with the Barton situation, one could use the Jackson Daily News and the New York Times. Note the language, tone, and overall opinions expressed in each opinion-based account. Then compare and contrast those observations. What could these perceived differences say about the ideological views of, not just the publication or the journalist, but the audience those publications serve?
- In an effort to clear his name, Barton took part in a lie detector test facilitated by Jackson State Times editor J. Oliver Emmerich. On March 15, 1961, the results of Barton’s exam were featured prominently on the front page of the State Times. While some may argue that Emmerich’s efforts were to help the Ole Miss student, others would say that, by offering the test, Emmerich and the State Times were violating the ethical notion of objectivity. Applying the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics, either defend or refute the actions of Emmerich and the State Times.
- From a legal perspective, do you believe that Barton’s efforts to clear his name, legally, would be different in 2020 versus 1962? Consider the evidence presented in the article and identify and explain if the various requirements of a libel claim are present. Take a position and argue whether or not Barton’s case had merit or if the case should have been rightfully dismissed. A copy of the dismissal of Barton v. Barnett from 1964 can be found here.
- To this day, journalists are still subjected to personal attacks by both political figures and the various news organizations that support said political figures. In the era of “fake news,” could a journalist be subjected to the same fate as Barton? Compare Barton’s plight to that of a modern journalist in 2020. Citing current, real-world examples, explain whether or not Barton’s situation could be repeated in a more contemporary news environment.
- Barton is not the only student journalist to face some sort of reprisals during the civil rights movement. As referenced in the account, Bill Shipp, who would go on to an esteemed career in Georgia as a political reporter, resigned as editor of the University of Georgia’s Red and Black in 1953 after University Regent Roy Harris threated to censor the newspaper if it continued to support integration. Jim Bullington was placed on probation at Auburn University for supporting the integration of the school in a front-page editorial in the Plainsman in 1961. Using the archives of the Red and Black and the Plainsman, compare and contrast the exploits of Shipp and Bullington. How did their individual student newspapers cover their respective situations and to what extent? What does the reaction to Shipp and Bullington from their respective universities say about the power of the student press during the civil rights movement?
Additional Readings and Resources
Billy Clyde Barton v. Ross R. Barnett, William J. Simmons, Mrs. John Aldridge, Mrs. Sara McCorkle, Albert Jones, W.A. Lufburrow, Citizens’ Council Inc., Citizens’ Council of Mississippi, and Association of Citizens’ Councils of Mississippi, United States District Court N.D. Mississippi, W.D., Box 1, Allen Eugene Cox Papers, Special Collections, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS.
David R. Davies, The Press and Race: Mississippi Journalists Confront the Movement (Jackson, MS: University of Mississippi Press, 2001).
John Dittmer, Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
Charles Eagles, The Prince of Defiance: James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss (Chapel Hill, NC: UNC Press Books, 2009).
Jenny Irons, Reconstituting Whiteness: The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2010).
Yasuhiro Katagiri, The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission: Civil Rights and States’ Rights (Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2007).
Robert A. Pratt, We Shall Not Be Moved: The Desegregation of the University of Georgia (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2002).
State Sovereignty Commission files, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson, MS. Available at http://www.mdah.ms.gov/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/.
Jeffery A. Turner, Sitting In and Speaking Out: Student Movements in the American South, 1960-1970 (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2010).
Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff, The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation (New York, NY: Knopf, 2006).
L. Anne Willis and Susan L. Brinson, “Press Control During Auburn University’s Desegregation,” Journalism History 33, no. 2 (Summer 2007): 70-78.