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From The "Bland Leading The Bland" To The Mississippi Freedom Vote: William Sloane Coffin Jr. And The Civil Rights Movement At Yale University, 1958 - 1963, Wallis Finger

Kaplan Senior Essay Prize for Use of Library Special Collections

When Reverend William Sloane Coffin, Jr. arrived at Yale University in 1958, he found a campus he characterized as "the bland leading the bland." By the time sixty-seven Yale students went to Mississippi in 1963 to register voters during the freedom vote, Coffin had played a crucial role in creating a politically aware and directly involved student population. Coffin had infused the Yale campus with "energy." He did this gradually by preaching, introducing outside motivators and leading by example. Through his weekly Sunday sermons in Yale's Battell Chapel, the civil rights leaders he brought to campus and his participation in …