The Bridge: An Investigation of the Increase in Black Student Involvement at Southern Miss after the Civil Rights Movement.

In September of 1965, Raylawni Branch and Gwendolyn Armstrong became the first two African American students to successfully enroll at the University of Southern Mississippi. Since then, Southern Miss has grown to have one of the most diverse student bodies in the state. An in-depth investigation of the ten-year period between the integration of the university and the university president transition in 1975 reveals many different factors that influenced the rise of a more diverse and inclusive campus environment at Southern Miss. Using secondary historiography and primary source interviews with university administrators such as Dr. Aubrey Lucas, Dr. Joe Paul, and Dr. Eddie Holloway, this research evaluates the transition of power between University President William McCain and University President Aubrey Lucas and its impact on African American student involvement at Southern Miss. This research also analyzes how the emergence increase in black student involvement at Southern Miss can be contextualized within the broader Black Campus Movement of the post-Civil Rights Movement period.