Richard E. Holmes (born February 17, 1944) is an American medical doctor who specialized in emergency department medicine. As a third-year college student, in 1965 he enrolled in the previously segregated Mississippi State University. He was one of five black Mississippians who pioneered the effort to desegregate the major state universities of Mississippi as part of the Civil Rights Movement. Following passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, his enrollment was the most peaceful of these efforts to that point.
Holmes completed his college degree and graduated from MSU. After service in the United States Army, he also earned a master's degree in related fields, and a medical degree, the latter at Michigan State University. Holmes practiced emergency department medicine in hospitals in Birmingham, Alabama. In 2003 he returned to MSU to become a staff physician at the university's health center. He has received considerable recognition related to the 40th anniversary of his landmark enrollment and graduation from the university.
Early life and education
Holmes was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Horace and Minnie Holmes on February 17, 1944. He had three older brothers. When Richard was 18 months old, he and his brothers were taken to Mississippi by their mother when the parents separated. They settled in Starkville, Mississippi, with Eliza Hunter, a family friend Holmes would consider his "grandmother." Mrs. Hunter promoted education, hard work, honesty, and religion for the boys, teaching them that "being poor and black was no reason for failure."
Before Mrs. Hunter died in 1956 at the age of 86, she arranged for Holmes (then age 12) to live with Dr. Douglas Conner and his wife. He was a local Starkville physician, African-American community leader and civil rights activist. Conner became Holmes' godfather and life mentor, encouraging the youth to stay in school and study hard.
When Holmes graduated in 1963 from Starkville's black-only Henderson High School, Dr. Conner sent him to Wiley College. Holmes took pre-med courses during the two years he studied there. Wiley is a private, historically black college in Marshall, Texas; many of its students and faculty were active in the civil rights movement in Texas.
Civil rights leaders James L. Farmer, Sr. and his son James Farmer (who was director of CORE when Holmes was at Wiley) both had connections to Wiley. Holmes was influenced by mentors who exemplified the philosophy of persistent but conservative, gradual expansion of civil rights, along with the need for racial reconciliation.
Civil rights activism and integration
Holmes may have questioned why he was studying at Wiley in Texas when MSU was located in his hometown. He likely had some concern for his safety considering the violence that had greeted Clyde Kennard (imprisoned on false grounds and dying) and James Meredith (placed in danger of his life during riots) when they attempted to integrate Mississippi universities.
In 1960 Clyde Kennard had been imprisoned on false charges by the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission and the administration of president William David McCain when trying to integrate the University of Southern Mississippi. White segregationists erupted into riots on the campus of the University of Mississippi in 1963 when a federal court ordered that James Meredith be admitted. Governor Ross Barnett had gained political points in the state for his refusal to concede, and President John F. Kennedy authorized National Guard troops to quell the rioting and protect Meredith.
It is not documented as to how Holmes became the first black student to enroll at Mississippi State. His decision likely had several origins: himself, perhaps his mentor Dr. Conner, the local NAACP, President Dr. Dean W. Colvard and members of the university administration, and friends and mentors at Wiley. The NAACP had sponsored such efforts before; two months later they supported the enrollments of Raylawni Branch and Gwendolyn Elaine Armstrong at the University of Southern Mississippi.
By 1965, both liberals and segregationists in the Mississippi higher education community began to work toward integration. The Colvard administration was moderate for its time and place. In 1963, Dr. Colvard had been courageous enough to send his regional champion basketball team to the integrated NCAA championships, rejecting the desire by the white state political establishment to keep them out of the games because of racial issue. In 1965, Colvard, his staff, and the faculty were seeking a path to peaceful integration.