Clyde Kennard

Clyde Kennard. . , Forrest County native Clyde Kennard was a pioneer in the quest to desegregate higher education in Mississippi. His efforts to enroll at Mississippi Southern College (now USM) in 1955-1959 were obstructed by college president William D. McCain and state officials. He nonetheless persisted until he was falsely accused and convicted of minor crimes and was sent to Parchman Prison for seven years. While there he developed cancer but was denied proper medical treatment until he was critically ill. Tragically, he died on July 4, 1963, at age thirty-six. ,

Reverse: , Clyde Kennard , Born in Hattiesburg June 12, 1927, Kennard moved to Chicago when he was twelve to live with an older sister and attend school. At eighteen, he joined the U.S. Army and served with distinction for seven years as a paratrooper, earning the rank of sergeant. Using army savings, he made a down payment on a twenty-acre farm near Eatonville for his mother and stepfather. He then enrolled at the University of Chicago and was in his senior year when his stepfather died and Kennard returned to Mississippi to run the family farm. He wanted to complete his college degree but was also clearly motivated to change the system.

Beginning in 1955, Kennard was refused admission to the all-white Mississippi Southern College in Hattiesburg. State Sovereignty Commission investigators, led by former FBI agent Zack J. VanLandingham, sought derogatory information about Kennard to sabotage future applications but found none. His strategy to obstruct Kennard's application included false shows of friendship by college president William D. McCain and Governor J.P. Coleman and visits by local black professionals in efforts to dissuade Kennard of his plans.

On September 15, 1959, Kennard was on campus to register. After McCain again denied him entrance, Kennard returned to his car only to be arrested by two Forrest County constables on trumped up charges of "driving at an excessive speed” and "illegal possession of whiskey." Friends knew Kennard, a devout Baptist, never drank alcohol. Local judge T.C. Hobby found Kennard guilty of both charges.

On September 25, 1960, the Forrest County Cooperative - which had already foreclosed on Kennard's poultry farm and confiscated his stock - was burglarized. A young employee, Johnny Lee Roberts, stole five bags of chicken feed, claiming that Kennard had planned the break-in. Kennard was arrested and charged with accessory to burglary, a felony under Mississippi law. Kennard received the maximum penalty of seven years in prison.

At Parchman Farm (Mississippi State Penitentiary) Kennard worked all day in cotton fields. In early 1962 he became ill and was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Hospital staff advised parole due to his poor prognosis. Instead Kennard was returned to the cotton fields, with a medical checkup canceled.

The NAACP mobilized, and national figures including Martin Luther King and Dick Gregory demanded his release. Finally, under pressure of bad publicity should Kennard die at Parchman, Governor Ross Barnett ordered his release in the spring of 1963. Kennard underwent surgery in Chicago, but it was too late. He died July 4, 1963, and was buried in the cemetery of the Forrest County church where he had taught Sunday School and directed the choir. Subsequent investigations showed that Kennard had been framed, and on May 17, 2006, the Forrest County Circuit Court filed the papers that exonerated him., Captions: , Clyde Kennard entered the Army in 1945 and served with distinction for seven years as a paratrooper, including assignments in Gemany and Korea., “I had spent thirty months in Europe – why should I go overseas and protect my country, try to fight for my country, and then come back and be a second-class citizen?” , Clyde Kennard, At left, the Sovereignty Commission report from 1958 lists Kennard as an “Integration Agitator.” , Pressured by both Coleman and McCain, Kennard agreed to withdraw his application. Some friends report that Kennard was promised a place at the colleage if he delayed his application. , A letter from the NAACP general counsel to Medgar Evers and multiple articles in JET magazine show the widespread coverage the Kennard case received. , White economic entities also exerted pressure: the Southern Farm Bureau Insurance Company cancelled its liability coverage on Kennard’s car, and the Forrest County Cooperative foreclosed on Kennard’s poulty farm. , Kennard is greeted by his sister Sarah Tarpley at O’Hare Airport on February 2, 1963, after his arrival from Mississippi. He was taken to a hospital, where he began treatment for intestinal cancer. , Although he lost forty pounds while in prison, his captors accused him of feigning illness to avoid work. Guards even instructed other prisoners to carry Kennard into the fields and return him to his cell when he collapsed. , In September 1991 the Jackson Clarion-Ledger published secret Sovereignty Commission documents that showed Kennard had been framed, leading to public calls to repone the case. In 2006 reporter Jerry Mitchell investigated the Kennard case, and Johnny Lee Roberts, at age sixty-five, admitted his part in the fake chicken feed theft. , After receiving a petition signed by those including students and a former federal judge seeking a pardon for Kennard, Governor Haley Barbour declared March 30, 2006 “Clyde Kennard Day,” an event covered nationally that brought hundreds of pleas before Forrest County Circuit Judge Robert Helfrich, who finally declared Kennard innocent. , This is marker No. 27 on the Mississippi Freedom Trail, dedicated February 2, 2018.