STUDENT INVOLVEMENT Communicating with interested parties statewide was possible because of a strong network of students and alumni who relied on mimeograph machines, not computers, printers or the Internet. Leaflets provided the information about the meetings, which were usually held at churches, or in Jackson, at the Masonic Temple on Lynch Street. Campus meetings were often held in secret. “We also met ‘unofficially’ at the auditorium of the Charles F. Moore building,” says Madison with a laugh. “Now we can let that cat out of the bag.” Dr. Mary Coleman remembers those meetings and how her professor, McLemore, encouraged her to attend. “Once there was a huge meeting over in Dansby Hall. McLemore made us all go over there,” says Coleman, now an associate dean in JSU’s College of Liberal Arts. “I had just left a high school in Forrest, Miss., that had been desegregated, and I was curious to know what the outcome would be.” Like Coleman, many students were too young to join the cause without their parents’ permission. That wasn’t the case for Louis Armstrong, a Vietnam veteran who retuned to JSU in 1973 to complete his undergraduate degree. “The sororities and fraternities were discouraged from participating and so was the Student Government Association,” says Armstrong, a former Jackson city councilman. “Ike (Isaiah) Madison and his legal team didn’t really have anybody, so they ended up talking to the most radical group on campus: the Veterans Club.” Although they hadn’t attended one of the three public black colleges, Tougaloo College
Alvin O. Chambliss Jr. argued the Ayers case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dr. Ivory Phillips kept the Ayers case alive through writings published in the
Jackson Advocate.
students and alumni were an indispensable resource for the Ayers case. “There were so many Tougaloo graduates involved,” Madison says. “They had a tradition of championing the civil rights movement in Mississippi. As a private school, they had freedom that public colleges did not have.” TENSE TIMES A brewing effort to sue the state was not openly welcomed on the campuses of MVSU, ASU and JSU. Some school administrators, fearing the repercussions of protests, strongly discouraged Armstrong from participating. “I was told it was career suicide for me to get involved,” he says. “Someone even said, ‘Your mom sent you here to get an education. If you don’t take your name off that lawsuit, you’ll never find a job in Mississippi.’ ” Dr. John A. Peoples Jr., a former Jackson State president, remembers being told that he was too ambitious, and that JSU would never become a comprehensive university. Still, his commitment was unwavering. “You have to decide whether you are going to stand your ground or be so glad to have a job that you coward down and say nothing,” says Peoples from his Jackson home. “It was tough on me, but I had made a commitment to Jackson State.” SUSTAINING THE LAWSUIT Madison left the Ayers case and the state of Mississippi in 1985 after the death of his oldest sister. He moved to California to care for the children she’d left behind. Alvin O. Chambliss Jr., a 1967 JSU graduate and Madison’s fellow classmate at Howard,
Dr. Leslie Burl McLemore, a political science professor, directs JSU’s Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy.
JSU alumnus Louis Armstrong, a former Jackson City Council president, joined the cause after returning to JSU from Vietnam.
took over as lead counsel. “I didn’t worry about all the distractions,” says Chambliss, a distinguished visiting professor at Indiana University. “I’ve never been the type of person who allows my environment to define my vision. I just started to rely on God and let him direct my path.” Sustaining a lawsuit for nearly 30 years was difficult, especially when most of the progress involved hours of courtroom stays, legal arguments and research. But Dr. Ivory Phillips kept the story in the public through writings primarily in the Jackson Advocate, a black-owned newspaper. “From 1984 on, I attended every hearing,” says Phillips, dean emeritus of JSU’s College of Education and Human Development. “I think my writing may have helped to keep the issue out there for people to see it.” Meager funding limited the effort, making the support of expert witnesses who chose to forgo consultation charges crucial. Financial assistance from the North and Central Mississippi Rural Legal Services ensured the case’s survival. While working with legal services, Armstrong attended the Ayers hearings in the nation’s highest court. “I had the privilege of sitting at the U.S. Supreme Court and hearing our attorney, Alvin Chambliss, and a couple other lawyers argue our case,” he says. “I was nervous that Alvin would be too nervous. He’s an emotional attorney.” RESULTS OF AYERS The settlement awarded $503 million to three schools over a 17-year period with JSU receiving 43.4 percent and ASU and MVSU both receiving 28.3 percent. Each of the schools were awarded new
Dr. Mary Coleman was an undergraduate student when the Ayers case began. She’s now associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts.
Dr. John A. Peoples Jr. served as JSU’s president from 1967 to 1984.
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