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Oxford Town


Oxford Town / Freewheelin' Bob Dylan / 1963


He went down to Oxford Town, 
Guns and clubs followed him down,
All because his face was brown,
'Better get away from Oxford Town' 

Oxford Town, 'round the bend,
Come to the door, couldn't get in
All because of the color of his skin,
What do you think of that my friend?

rothbaum@virtu.sar.usf.edu "Michael Rothbaum (SAR)":
Yes, Craig, "Oxford Town" is referring to an academic town, but not the one that you'd naturally be thinking of......... :)

U.S. Air Force veteran James Meredith was the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi, in 1963. When Meredith first tried to attend classes at the school, a number of Mississippians pledged to keep the university segregated -- including Mississippi's governor. Ultimately, the University of Mississippi had to be integrated with the help of U.S. federal troops.

Anyway, "Ole Miss," as the school is often called, is located a mile from the town of Oxford, MISSISSIPPI, 75 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. Rest assured, the academic atmosphere differs a bit from the Oxford with which you're familiar.

qms1.life.uiuc.edu (Stewart Berlocher):
Oxford, Mississippi was also the focus of all of William Faulkner's fiction, except it became Jefferson, Mississippi, in Yoknapatawpha county (sorry, that last is probably mispelled). Interesting that Dylan went to visit Carl Sandburg in North Carolina, but apparently never tried to visit Faulkner.