Mar 29, 2018 - Sale 2471

Sale 2471 - Lot 164

Price Realized: $ 312
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 250 - $ 350
(CIVIL RIGHTS.) Papers of John Langford, one of the United States Marshals who escorted James Meredith. 97 items, various sizes and conditions. Vp, 1962-96 and undated

Additional Details

In 1962, John F. Langford, Jr. (1924-2002) was one of the white United States Marshals sent to accompany James Meredith as he became the first African-American student at the University of Mississippi. This lot includes a metallic plaque facsimile of the 18 December 1962 letter of thanks Langford received from the attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, noting "how highly I regard your performance at the University of Mississippi. . . . You and your colleagues on the line at Oxford conducted yourselves with good judgement in the face of crisis, with restraint in the face of great provocation, and--as the tragic number of injuries to Deputy Marshals attests--with real courage in the face of great danger. You have made a significant contribution to the attainment of equal rights for all our citizens." Also included are Langford's Deputy Marshal armband, a pair of clippings showing a helmeted Langford with Meredith at the campus, and two photographs of John F. Kennedy (apparently at a San Diego State College commencement, June 1963). It also includes buttons and other memorabilia from Langford's later career with the United States Border Patrol.