Jan. 29, 1963 - Governor Ross Barnett freed from prison today a Negro who once attempted to enter the all-white University of Southern Mississippi. Clyde Kennard (pictured), a Korean War veteran serving a seven-year term in the alleged theft of five sacks of chicken feed, is reported to be dying of cancer. On November 21, 1960, an all-white jury deliberated 10 minutes and found Mr. Kennard guilty of the crime. Just after the conclusion of the trial, Medgar Evers, president of the Mississippi chapter of the NAACP, was cited by the court for contempt after he issued a statement that Kennard's conviction was "a mockery of judicial justice.” Mr. Kennard is widely believed to have been framed.
