52nd Mississippi Governor. He served as a one-term the Southern Democrat governor of Mississippi from 1960 to 1964, which was in the middle of the United States Civil Rights Movement of 1954 to 1968. He opposed the Civil Rights Movement by imprisoning protestors, defying Federal laws, inciting insurrection, and becoming the mouthpiece for Mississippi white supremacists with his fiery speeches against integration of states' schools, restaurants, public transportation and other segregated facilities. Since some of the team members were African American, he attempted to deny the basketball team of Mississippi State University from playing in the NCAA tournament of 1963. The team left for the championship game in the middle of the night. Born the son of a Confederate veteran of the American Civil War, he was the youngest of ten children, who lived in near-poverty on a rural farm. While he was governor, Mississippi celebrated with pride the centennial of the American Civil War. He served in World War I before graduating from Mississippi College in 1922. He earned his law degree from University of Mississippi, "Ole Miss," at Oxford in 1926. While at University of Mississippi, he taught freshman classes. According to his professors, he was an average law student. Although his law career was an up-hill-climb at first, he eventually after 25 years became a well-respected trial lawyer in Jackson, specializing in representing the poor in damage suits against corporations. From 1943 to 1945 he served as the President of the Mississippi Bar Association. Without any political experiences and using his own money for campaigning, he was a candidate for governor in 1951 and 1955, being unsuccessful each time. He toured the state, making a speech every day and rallying the citizens to his cause. He gained the support of the Citizens' Council, an organization dedicated to the preservation of white supremacy. In his 1959 attempt for the governorship, he was elected governor. He ran as a staunch segregationist, distributing his pamphlet, "Dynamic Leadership – To Keep Segregation and Improve Our Standard of Living." He was sworn into office on January 19, 1960. During his governorship, the state's workmen's compensation law was revised and a right to work law was sanctioned, which brought industries to the state. More than 40,000 new jobs and 440 industrial parks were created during his four years in office. These achievements were overshadowed with his steadfast segregation stance. After two were killed in a riot and with support of the United States Federal Marshals, the first African American student, James Meredith, a nine-year veteran of the United States Air Force, was admitted to the University of Mississippi on October 1, 1962. Following the Supreme Court's ruling that African American students had the right to attend any state-supported university, Governor Barnett ordered on September 26, 1962 that the state police had to prevent Meredith from "setting a foot" on the university's campus, which led to a campus riot, yet the Federal ruling was upheld. Barnett completed his term as governor, leaving office on January 21, 1964. After running unsuccessfully for reelection to the governorship in 1967, Barnett retired from political life, returning to his private law practice. He married in 1929 and the couple has a son and two daughters. Ross Barnett Reservoir in Madison and Rankin counties and Barnett Lake in Smith County are named in honor of Governor Barnett. Several biographies have been written about his life as well as being covered in television documentaries. Barnett's gubernatorial papers are held by the Mississippi State Department of Archives and History.