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UM Lawyer FALL/WINTER 2006-07
Coming Full Circle
Descendants of civil rights leader join UM law community
by Jennifer Farish
Perfect examples of how times and attitudes have changed at The University of Mississippi, twins Corrie (left) and Courtney Cockrell speak highly of their experiences at the UM School of Law. More than 50 years ago, their great-uncle Medgar Wiley Evers was denied admission to the then-segregated law school.
Sitting near the newly erected University of Mississippi Civil Rights Monument on a recent fall day, Corrie Cockrell (JD 06) and her twin sister Courtney, a first-year UM law student, speak proudly of their family’s history and struggle.
The sisters, 25, feel that their family has come full circle through their education at UM. More than 50 years ago, their great-uncle Medgar Wiley Evers was denied entry into the then-segregated UM School of Law. Evers later was instrumental in the desegregation of the university with the enrollment of James Meredith in 1962. The following year, the civil rights leader was brutally assassinated by an admitted member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Just over 40 years after Evers's death, his great-nieces talk openly about the pain their family endured and the progress that has been made. On this day, the sisters are seated just below the words "Courage" and "Knowledge" engraved in the monument's arches. Less than six feet away stands a statue of Meredith striding toward the open arch.
The Cockrells are the granddaughters of Evers's older brother Charles, who moved back to Mississippi following his brother's murder to continue the fight for equality. A member of the NAACP, Charles Evers was present during the first attempt to bring his brother's killer to justice in 1964, an effort that ended with two deadlocked juries....
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