MSU to commemorate Dr. Richard Holmes's admission July 19

Contact: Phil Hearn

Dr. Richard Holmes
Dr. Richard Holmes

STARKVILLE, Miss.--
Mississippi
State's
Holmes
Cultural
Diversity
Center will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the enrollment of the university's first African-American student July 19.

Dr. Richard Holmes, who was peacefully admitted to MSU on July 19, 1965, will serve as keynote speaker for the noon-1 p.m. event at the Colvard Union ballroom. A reception will follow immediately.

"I did not come here for fanfare or publicity," the young black man from
Starkville said in a brief written message he read to the press on the day of his admission to the historically white institution.

"As a lifelong Mississippian, I am here to study and learn at a high-rated
Mississippi university, which happens to be in my hometown," he wrote.

That was one year after the state's "long hot summer" of 1964, when three young civil rights workers were murdered in
Neshoba
County, and a year before the 1966 firebomb slaying of civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer near
Hattiesburg.

Yet, Holmes's peaceful admission for summer classes at MSU caused little more than a blip on the state's racial radar screen.

"There were no catcalls, no racial slurs," recalled Holmes, who was 21 at the time. "It was quiet and serene. Nothing happened. There was just curiosity and disbelief."

Holmes subsequently earned a bachelor's degree in liberal arts in 1969 and a master's degree in microbiology in 1973, both from MSU, and finished medical school at
Michigan
State
University in 1977.

Mississippi
State recognized Holmes by naming the university's cultural diversity center in his honor in 1991. He and wife Judie later endowed a minority scholarship fund at the university.

After carving out a successful 23-year career as an emergency room physician in Birmingham, Ala., Holmes returned to his alma mater as a staff physician at MSU's
Longest
Student
Health
Center in 2003. He served as the university's commencement speaker that spring.

"The university gained from the courage and dignity he demonstrated in 1965," said MSU President Charles Lee. "Today's students are benefiting and learning from the professionalism and compassion that are evident in his practice as a campus physician."

For more information, contact the
Holmes
Cultural
Diversity
Center at 662- 325-2033.