Clyde Kennard
Encyclopedia
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
, born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg is a city in Forrest County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 44,779 at the 2000 census . It is the county seat of Forrest County...
. In the 1950s, he attempted several times to enroll at Mississippi Southern College (now known as University of Southern Mississippi) to complete his undergraduate degree started at University of Chicago. USM was still segregated and reserved for European American
European American
A European American is a citizen or resident of the United States who has origins in any of the original peoples of Europe...
s.
After he published a letter about integrated education, the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission
Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission
The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission was a state agency directed by the governor of Mississippi that existed from 1956 to 1977, also known as the Sov-Com...
conspired to have him arrested on false charges. He was convicted and sentenced to seven years at Parchman Penitentiary, a high-security prison. Although he was terminally ill with cancer, the governor refused to pardon him, but released him in January 1963. After 2005 and publication of evidence that Kennard had been framed, supporters tried to secure a posthumous pardon for him, but Governor Haley Barbour
Haley Barbour
Haley Reeves Barbour is an American Republican politician currently serving as the 63rd Governor of Mississippi. He gained a national spotlight in August 2005 after Mississippi was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Barbour won re-election as Governor in 2007...
refused.
Early life and education
Kennard was born in MississippiMississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
in 1927; he moved to Chicago at the age of 12 to aid his injured sister, Sarah. He stayed and graduated from Wendell Phillips High School, then entered the U.S. Army.
After serving as a paratrooper during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, as a veteran he returned to Chicago and started college at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. In 1955, after completing his junior year, Kennard returned to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to care for his stepfather, who had become disabled and needed help. Kennard purchased land in Eatonville to start a chicken farm. He taught Sunday school at the Mary Magdalene Baptist Church.
The fight for education
On three separate occasions (1956, 1957 and 1959), Kennard sought to enroll at Mississippi Southern College, one of Mississippi's premier institutions, which was still segregated and had an exclusively white student body. MississippiMississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
James P. Coleman
James P. Coleman
James Plemon "J.P." Coleman was a politician from the state of Mississippi.-Biography:Coleman was born in Ackerman, Mississippi. He obtained a law degree from The George Washington University Law School in 1939. As a young man, he served upon the staff of Mississippi Congressman A. L. Ford...
offered to have the state pay his tuition elsewhere in the state, but Kennard declined. He preferred that college as it was the closest to his home, a major factor given his family situation. In Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
(1955), the US Supreme Court had ruled that segregation in public educational facilities was unconstitutional.
On December 6, 1958, Kennard published a letter in the Hattiesburg American newspaper. He wrote that he was a “segregationist by nature” but “integrationist by choice,” and gave a reasoned explanation as to why segregation in education was impractical and bound to be replaced by one integrated system.
Zack Van Landingham of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission
Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission
The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission was a state agency directed by the governor of Mississippi that existed from 1956 to 1977, also known as the Sov-Com...
urged J. H. White, the African-American president of Mississippi Vocational College
Mississippi Valley State University
Mississippi Valley State University is a historically black university located in Itta Bena, Mississippi, in the United States. MVSU is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund....
, to persuade Kennard to end his quest at Mississippi Southern College. When Kennard could not be dissuaded, Van Landingham and Dudley Connor, a Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg is a city in Forrest County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 44,779 at the 2000 census . It is the county seat of Forrest County...
lawyer, worked together to suppress his activism. Files from the Sovereignty Commission, which were opened in 1998, showed that its officials considered forcing Kennard into an accident or bombing his car.
Imprisonment
The Sovereignty Commission conspired to have Kennard framed for a crime. On September 15, 1959, he was arrested under false pretenses by constables Charlie Ward and Lee Danniel for reckless driving. After he was jailed, Lee and Daniels perjured themselves before Justice of the Peace T. C. Hobby, claiming to have found five half pints of whiskey, along with other liquor, under the seat of his car. Mississippi was a "dry" state, and possession of liquor was illegal until 1966. Kennard was subsequently cited for illegal liquor possession.He was convicted and fined $600 for the latter offense. He soon became the victim of an unofficial local economic boycott (also a tactic of the Sovereignty Commission), which cut off his credit. He was arrested again on September 25, 1960 with an alleged accomplice for the theft of $25 worth of chicken feed from the Forrest County Cooperative warehouse. Kennard went to trial, with the accomplice, Johnny Lee Roberts, testifying that Kennard paid him to steal the feed. On November 21, 1960, an all-white jury deliberated 10 minutes and found Kennard guilty. (At the time, because of having been essentially disfranchised and unable to vote in Mississippi since 1890, blacks could not serve on juries.)
Kennard was sentenced to seven years in prison, to be served in Parchman Penitentiary, a high-security facility. Despite his alleged role in the crime, Roberts was given five years' probation and freed. Years later, Roberts testified under oath that Kennard was innocent: "Kennard did not ask me to steal, Kennard did not ask me to break into the co-op, Kennard did not ask me to do anything illegal."
Just after the conclusion of the trial, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
official Medgar Evers
Medgar Evers
Medgar Wiley Evers was an African American civil rights activist from Mississippi involved in efforts to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi...
was cited for contempt after issuing a statement that the conviction was "a mockery of judicial justice." Evers was fined $100 and sentenced to 30 days in jail, but on June 12, 1961, the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned the conviction.
Cancer and death
While imprisoned in 1961, Kennard was diagnosed with colon cancer and taken to the University of MississippiUniversity of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...
hospital for surgery. The medical staff recommended that Kennard be put in their custody or that they be allowed to make regular visits to check on his condition. Authorities sent him back to Parchman Prison, where he worked as a laborer.
Civil rights leaders in Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg is a city in Forrest County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 44,779 at the 2000 census . It is the county seat of Forrest County...
, embarked on a campaign to secure Kennard's release. After the story gained national attention in 1963, Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett
Ross Barnett
Ross Robert Barnett was the governor of Mississippi from 1960 to 1964. He was a States' Rights Democrat.- Early life :...
gave Kennard an "indefinite suspended sentence."
Kennard was released on January 30. The comedian Dick Gregory
Dick Gregory
Richard Claxton "Dick" Gregory is an American comedian, social activist, social critic, writer, and entrepreneur....
paid for his flight to Chicago, where he went for medical treatment. He twice underwent surgery at Billings Hospital on the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
campus over the next five months, but died of cancer 10 days after the latter procedure.
On July 7, a funeral service for Kennard was held at Metropolitan Funeral Parlor in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. A poem he wrote on April 16, 1962 was read to the congregation. Sensing his limited lifespan, he titled the poem, "Ode to the Death Angel:"
- Oh here you come again
- Old chilly death of Ol'
- To plot out life
- And test immortal soul
- I saw you fall against the raging sea
- I cheated you then and now you'll not catch me
- I know your face
- It's known in every race
- Your speed is fast
- And along the way
- Your shadow you cast
- High in the sky
- You thought you had me then
- I landed safely
- But here you are again
- I see you paused upon that forward pew
- When you think I'm asleep
- I'm watching you
- Why must you hound me so everywhere I go?
- It's true my eyes are dim
- My hands are growing cold
- Well take me on then, that
- I might at last become my soul
Three days later, he was buried in his family's plot at Mary Magdelene Cemetery in Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg is a city in Forrest County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 44,779 at the 2000 census . It is the county seat of Forrest County...
.
Pardon efforts
On December 31, 2005, Jerry MitchellJerry Mitchell
Jerry Mitchell is an American theatre director and choreographer.-Early life and education:Born in Paw Paw, Michigan, Mitchell later moved to St. Louis where he pursued his acting, dancing and directing career in theatre. He graduated from the Fine Arts college at Webster University in St. Louis. ...
, an award-winning investigative reporter, published an interview with the informant Roberts. He asserted that his testimony in 1960 was false, and that Kennard had no connection to the crime. Mitchell, who had been investigating the case for many years, had previously helped some other infamous "cold cases" from the Civil Rights Era.
In 2006, three high school students from Illinois: Mona Ghadiri, Agnes Mazur, and Callie McCune, working with their teacher, Barry Bradford (renowned in 2002 for helping reopen the "Mississippi Burning
Mississippi civil rights worker murders
The Mississippi civil rights workers murders involved the lynching of three political activists in Neshoba County, Mississippi on June 21, 1964, during the American Civil Rights Movement....
" case) and Professor Steven A. Drizin of the Northwestern University School of Law
Northwestern University School of Law
The Northwestern University School of Law is a private American law school in Chicago, Illinois. The law school was founded in 1859 as the Union College of Law of the Old University of Chicago. The first law school established in Chicago, it became jointly controlled by Northwestern University in...
, Center On Wrongful Convictions, spearheaded a movement to convince Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour
Haley Barbour
Haley Reeves Barbour is an American Republican politician currently serving as the 63rd Governor of Mississippi. He gained a national spotlight in August 2005 after Mississippi was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Barbour won re-election as Governor in 2007...
to issue Kennard a full pardon. Against the advice of leading Mississippi politicians, academics, and media, Barbour declined to do so. He stated there was no precedent for a posthumous pardon. He ignored the campaign led by U.S. Senator Trent Lott
Trent Lott
Chester Trent Lott, Sr. , is a former United States Senator from Mississippi and has served in numerous leadership positions in the House of Representatives and the Senate....
, which had resulted in a posthumous US pardon for Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
. He designated March 30 as Clyde Kennard Day, saying that it was the appropriate way to honor the man.
African-American students from the University of Southern Mississippi joined the campaign, and collected more than 1,500 signatures in support of the pardon. The students noted that by then, the university had more than 2,000 black students, which was the acceptance which Kennard had sought. Despite pleas from four former Mississippi governors, on May 10, 2006, the Mississippi State Parole Board refused to recommend a pardon. The Board's vote was split according to racial lines, with all of the white members' voting to oppose a pardon recommendation.
Every major newspaper in Mississippi denounced the decisions of the Governor and the Board. Kennard's brother-in-law, Rev. Willie Grant, expressed disappointment over the Board's decision. He said the state appeared to be trying to avoid any potential litigation damages over wrongful imprisonment. The Kennard family had already said publicly that they had no interest in seeking damages.
Resolution
Bradford and the students from Illinois shifted their efforts to using the courts to secure a reversal of the conviction. They contacted Charles PickeringCharles Pickering
Charles Pickering may refer to:* Charles Pickering , physician and naturalist* Charles W. Pickering , Appeals Court judge* Chip Pickering , U.S. Representative from Mississippi; son of Charles W. Pickering...
, a former Federal judge, and William Winter
William Winter (politician)
William Forrest Winter is an American politician from Mississippi. He served as the 58th Governor of Mississippi from 1980 to 1984 as a Democrat. He is known for his strong support of public education, racial reconciliation, and historic preservation. Winter is best remembered for the passage of...
, a former Mississippi governor, who fashioned precedent-making legal strategy.
Using the historical research done by Bradford and the students, and the exhaustive legal research prepared by Professor Drizin and Bobby Owens, a Northwestern University law student from Mississippi, the effort to clear Kennard's name finally paid off. After arguments by Pickering and Winter heading a blue-ribbon legal team, on May 17, 2006, Judge Bob Helfrich threw out Kennard's original burglary conviction, stating, "To me, this is not a black and white issue; it's a right and wrong issue. To correct that wrong, I am compelled to do the right thing."
The Kennard case aroused strong emotions. Six days after Helfrich's decree, the white supremacist Richard Barrett filed documents to throw out the decision. Barrett was a vocal supporter of Edgar Ray Killen
Edgar Ray Killen
Edgar Ray "Preacher" Killen is a former Ku Klux Klan organizer who conspired in the murders of three civil rights activists—James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner—in 1964....
, convicted in federal court in June 2005 of manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
in the killing of three civil rights workers in 1964. Barrett's motion was summarily dismissed by Judge Helfrich. His appeal to the Mississippi State Supreme Court was likewise dismissed, ending the legal saga.
Cultural legacy
In February 1993, the University of Southern Mississippi renamed its campus Student Services Building Kennard-Washington Hall in honor of Clyde Kennard and Dr. Walter WashingtonWalter Washington (educator)
Dr. Walter Washington was an American educator. He was born in Hazelhurst, Mississippi. In 1949, Washington married his college sweetheart, the former Carolyn Carter, who is a retired college professor...
(then president of Alcorn State University
Alcorn State University
Alcorn State University is an historically black university comprehensive land-grant institution in Lorman, Mississippi. It was founded in 1871-History:...
, a historically black college).
