Vardaman was Governor of Mississippi from 1904 to 1908. "Governor Vardaman is best remembered, however, for his extreme views on race. He did not support public education for blacks beyond the most basic moral instruction and vocational training because he believed blacks should remain in economic servitude and that education was unnecessary for the kind of work they would do. He recommended the closing of black public schools and the repeal of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the U. S. Constitution, which gave blacks the right to vote and hold office."
- James Kimble Vardaman: Thirty-sixth Governor of Mississippi: 1904-1908, by David G. Sansing
