Audio: Sign created by Florida State students honoring civil rights icon to be placed in Kosciusko

A sign created by students and a professor at Florida State University recognizing civil rights icon, and Attala County native, James Meredith will be placed in Kosciusko.

The project, which mayor Tim Kyle confirmed to Breezy News has been in the works for several months, is the work of Davis Houck, Fannie Lou Hamer Professor of Rhetorical Studies, and his spring 2024 rhetorical criticism class.

According to Kyle, Houck contacted him while he was driving through Kosciusko.

 “I was very surprised that I could find nothing celebrating the fact that Meredith grew up there, and so I started asking some questions, first with friends of Meredith and later with the mayor of Kosciusko, Tim Kyle,” Houck told Michael Chavez with FSU News. “Turns out it was true. Save for a mural in the visitors’ center, there’s nothing commemorating Meredith’s life in the community.”

The only other local commemoration for Meredith is a street that was renamed in his honor in 2016.

So Houck challenged his students to create a sign that could be erected in Kosciusko to preserve the legacy Meredith as the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi.

“To know that we were helping in some small way to ensure (James Meredith) is forever remembered in his hometown was a humbling experience, and I’m so thankful that Dr. Houck invited our class to take part in this project,” said student Annie Blanchard

The students involved in creating the sign were Adrian Valdes, Kyle Haniff, Everett Reed, Nick Schwab, Elle Schumm, Haylie Humphrey, Hayden Springer, Alex Webster, Lauren Greenbaum, Annie Blanchard, Alexis Sears, Rebecca Piriz, Grace Cashman, Shana Khan, Emma Borchuck, Sullivan Swink and Jordan Schwartz.

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History recently approved the sign.

When the sign is ready, which could be near the beginning of 2025, it will be placed at the intersection of Allen Street and S Huntington Street.

Kyle said that location was chosen because Meredith’s childhood home was on Allen Street, but also because that intersection is set to be the home of the LV Hull Legacy Center, which means it will likely be one of the most heavily trafficked areas in the city.

Audio: Tim Kyle explains more about the project during the August 8 edition of “Minute with the Mayor.”

The sign will read:

James H. Meredith

“James H. Meredith was born in Kosciusko on June 25, 1933, to Roxie and Moses “Cap” Meredith. Raised on an Attala County farm, he attended segregated public schools and served in the Air Force. He was the first Black student to integrate the University of Mississippi in 1962. In 1966, he survived being shot while leading the March Against Fear to encourage Black Mississippians to register to vote. A lifelong proponent of education, Meredith authored numerous books and was a key figure in the civil rights movement.