The song was composed in response to an open invitation from "Broadside" magazine for songs about one of the top news events of 1962: the Ole Miss riot triggered by the enrollment of a black student, James Meredith, in the University of Mississippi on October 1. Among other submissions was Phil Ochs' song "Ballad of Oxford, Mississippi". The lyrics and music from Dylan's song were printed December 1962 in "Broadside" issue No. 17.