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On September 30- October 1, 1962, JFK routes 3,000 federal troops to Mississippi to protect James Meredith, the first Black to enroll in Ole Miss. From the article:
"James Meredith at Ole Miss
James Meredith, an African American man, attempted to enroll at the all-white University of Mississippi in 1962. Chaos soon broke out on the Ole Miss campus, with riots ending in two dead, hundreds wounded and many others arrested, after the Kennedy administration called out some 31,000 National Guardsmen and other federal forces to enforce order.
Brown v. Board of Education
The landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education declared that racial segregation in educational and other facilities violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which granted equal protection of the law to any person within its jurisdiction.
This verdict effectively overturned the “separate but equal” mandate set in 1896 by an earlier court decision, Plessy v. Ferguson, which determined that equal protection was not violated as long as reasonably equal conditions were provided to both groups.
Though it applied specifically to public schools, the Brown verdict implied that other segregated facilities were also unconstitutional, dealing a heavy blow to white supremacist policies in the Jim Crow South.
Ole Miss
In the years leading up to the incident at the University of Mississippi (aka “Ole Miss”), African Americans had begun to be admitted in small numbers to other white colleges and universities in the South without too much incident.
James Meredith was studying at the all-black Jackson State College from 1960 to 1962; during this time he applied repeatedly to Ole Miss without success. Born in Kosciusko in 1933, Meredith was a native Mississippian; he attended elementary and secondary school in the state (except for a final year of high school in Florida) and served nine years in the U.S. Air Force.
In 1961, Meredith—with the help of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)—filed a lawsuit against Ole Miss, alleging racial discrimination. The case was eventually settled on appeal by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in Meredith’s favor in September 1962.
Ross Barnett
State officials, including Governor Ross Barnett, attempted to defy the Supreme Court decision, provoking a constitutional crisis between the state of Mississippi and the federal government.
When Meredith arrived at the school’s Oxford, Mississippi, campus under the protection of federal forces, including U.S. marshals, a mob of more than 2,000 students and others formed to block his way.
Two people were killed and many others injured in the ensuing chaos, forcing Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to send federal marshals and later federalized National Guardsmen, in what essentially amounted to a military occupation of some 31,000 federal troops.
Despite the fierce resistance, Meredith registered as the first African-American student at Ole Miss on October 1, 1962. His brief tenure at the school lasted less time than the legal battle it took to get there: He graduated the following year, and later wrote a memoir about the entire experience entitled Three Years in Mississippi (1966).
Integration in the South
The incident at Ole Miss was not the only battle fought in the Deep South over integration of higher education.
In Alabama, the notoriously segregationist Governor George Wallace vowed to “stand in the schoolhouse door” in order to block the enrollment of a black student at the University of Alabama. Though Wallace was eventually forced by the federalized National Guard to integrate the university, he became prominent symbol of the ongoing resistance to desegregation.
In addition to four terms as governor of Alabama, he was a two-time candidate for the U.S. presidency.
For his part, James Meredith continued his activism as a student at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria and later at Columbia University.
In June 1966, Meredith made a solitary protest march he called the “March Against Fear.”
While marching his way from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi, Meredith was shot by a sniper. Civil rights activists including Martin Luther King Jr., Stokely Carmichael and Floyd McKissick continued the march in Meredith’s name until he recovered and was able to rejoin them."
"James Meredith at Ole Miss
James Meredith, an African American man, attempted to enroll at the all-white University of Mississippi in 1962. Chaos soon broke out on the Ole Miss campus, with riots ending in two dead, hundreds wounded and many others arrested, after the Kennedy administration called out some 31,000 National Guardsmen and other federal forces to enforce order.
Brown v. Board of Education
The landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education declared that racial segregation in educational and other facilities violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which granted equal protection of the law to any person within its jurisdiction.
This verdict effectively overturned the “separate but equal” mandate set in 1896 by an earlier court decision, Plessy v. Ferguson, which determined that equal protection was not violated as long as reasonably equal conditions were provided to both groups.
Though it applied specifically to public schools, the Brown verdict implied that other segregated facilities were also unconstitutional, dealing a heavy blow to white supremacist policies in the Jim Crow South.
Ole Miss
In the years leading up to the incident at the University of Mississippi (aka “Ole Miss”), African Americans had begun to be admitted in small numbers to other white colleges and universities in the South without too much incident.
James Meredith was studying at the all-black Jackson State College from 1960 to 1962; during this time he applied repeatedly to Ole Miss without success. Born in Kosciusko in 1933, Meredith was a native Mississippian; he attended elementary and secondary school in the state (except for a final year of high school in Florida) and served nine years in the U.S. Air Force.
In 1961, Meredith—with the help of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)—filed a lawsuit against Ole Miss, alleging racial discrimination. The case was eventually settled on appeal by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in Meredith’s favor in September 1962.
Ross Barnett
State officials, including Governor Ross Barnett, attempted to defy the Supreme Court decision, provoking a constitutional crisis between the state of Mississippi and the federal government.
When Meredith arrived at the school’s Oxford, Mississippi, campus under the protection of federal forces, including U.S. marshals, a mob of more than 2,000 students and others formed to block his way.
Two people were killed and many others injured in the ensuing chaos, forcing Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to send federal marshals and later federalized National Guardsmen, in what essentially amounted to a military occupation of some 31,000 federal troops.
Despite the fierce resistance, Meredith registered as the first African-American student at Ole Miss on October 1, 1962. His brief tenure at the school lasted less time than the legal battle it took to get there: He graduated the following year, and later wrote a memoir about the entire experience entitled Three Years in Mississippi (1966).
Integration in the South
The incident at Ole Miss was not the only battle fought in the Deep South over integration of higher education.
In Alabama, the notoriously segregationist Governor George Wallace vowed to “stand in the schoolhouse door” in order to block the enrollment of a black student at the University of Alabama. Though Wallace was eventually forced by the federalized National Guard to integrate the university, he became prominent symbol of the ongoing resistance to desegregation.
In addition to four terms as governor of Alabama, he was a two-time candidate for the U.S. presidency.
For his part, James Meredith continued his activism as a student at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria and later at Columbia University.
In June 1966, Meredith made a solitary protest march he called the “March Against Fear.”
While marching his way from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi, Meredith was shot by a sniper. Civil rights activists including Martin Luther King Jr., Stokely Carmichael and Floyd McKissick continued the march in Meredith’s name until he recovered and was able to rejoin them."
James Meredith at Ole Miss
Posted from history.com
Racism
Discrimination
Riots
American History
University of Mississippi
Edited 5 y ago
Posted 5 y ago
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35 US Marshalls are shot in attempt to admit the first black at the university
Thank you, my friend SGT (Join to see) for reminding us that from September 30- October 1, 1962, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy ordered 3000 federal soldiers to be diverted to University of Mississippi [Ole Miss] to protect USAF veteran James Meredith at the University of Mississippi to register for classes. Deplorably he was blocked from entering classes.
Images:
1. James Meredith, the first African American student to enroll at the University of Mississippi, holds a newspaper as he attempts to register at the university
2. James Meredith is escorted by U.S. Marshals. A riot broke out in 1962 when Meredith tried to enroll at the University of Mississippi.
3. James Meredith 'Liberal whites are the greatest enemy of African Americans"
Deadly Riots at Ol' Miss
"35 US Marshalls are shot in attempt to admit the first black at the university"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVqvCuOwpZU
Background from thoughtco.com/james-meredith-american-civil-rights-4588489
by Robert Longley Updated March 14, 2019
James Meredith is an African American political activist and Air Force veteran who rose to prominence during the U.S. Civil Rights Movement by becoming the first black student admitted to the previously segregated University of Mississippi (“Ole Miss”).
The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the university to integrate the school, but Mississippi state police initially blocked Meredith’s entrance. After campus riots occurred, leaving two people dead, Meredith was allowed to enter the university under the protection of U.S. federal marshals and military troops. Though the events at Ole Miss forever entrenched him as a major civil rights figure, Meredith has expressed opposition to the concept of race-based civil rights.
Fast Facts: James Meredith
Known For: First black student to enroll in the segregated University of Mississippi, an act that made him a major figure in the civil rights movement
Born: June 25, 1933 in in Kosciusko, Mississippi
Education: University of Mississippi, Columbia Law School
Major Awards and Honors: Harvard Graduate School of Education “Medal for Education Impact” (2012)
Early Life and Education
James Meredith was born on June 25, 1933, in Kosciusko, Mississippi, to Roxie (Patterson) and Moses Meredith. He completed 11th grade at Attala County, Mississippi Training School, which was racially segregated under the state's Jim Crow laws. In 1951, he finished high school at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, Florida. Days after graduating, Meredith joined the U.S. Air Force, serving from 1951 through 1960.
After honorably separating from the Air Force, Meredith attended and excelled at traditionally black Jackson State College until 1962. He then decided to apply to the strictly segregated University of Mississippi, stating at the time, “I am familiar with the probable difficulties involved in such a move as I am undertaking and I am fully prepared to pursue it all the way to a degree from the University of Mississippi.”
Denied Admission
Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address, Meredith’s stated goal in applying to Ole Miss was to persuade the Kennedy administration to enforce civil rights for African Americans. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic 1954 ruling in the civil rights case of Brown v. Board of Education that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, the university persisted in admitting white students only.
After being denied admission twice, Meredith filed suit in U.S. District Court with the support of Medgar Evers, who was then head of the Mississippi chapter of the NAACP. The suit alleged that the university had rejected him solely because of he was African American. After several hearings and appeals, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Meredith had a constitutional right to be admitted to the state-supported university. Mississippi immediately appealed the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Ole Miss Riot
On September 10, 1962, the Supreme Court ruled that the University of Mississippi had to admit African American students. In clear defiance of the Supreme Court’s ruling, Mississippi governor Ross Barnett, on September 26, ordered state police to prevent Meredith from setting foot on the school’s campus. “No school will be integrated in Mississippi while I am your governor,” he proclaimed.
On the evening of September 30, riots on the University of Mississippi campus erupted over Meredith’s enrollment. During the overnight violence, two people died from gunshot wounds, and white protestors pelted federal marshals with bricks and small arms fire. Several cars were set on fire and university property was severely damaged.
By sunrise on October 1, 1962, federal troops had regained control of the campus, and escorted by armed federal marshals, James Meredith became the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi.
Integration at the University of Mississippi
Though he suffered constant harassment and rejection by fellow students, he persisted, and went on to graduate with a degree in political science on August 18, 1963. Today, Meredith’s admission is considered one of the pivotal moments in the American Civil Rights Movement.
In 2002, Meredith spoke of his efforts to integrate Ole Miss. “I was engaged in a war. I considered myself engaged in a war from Day One,” he said in an interview with CNN. “And my objective was to force the federal government—the Kennedy administration at that time—into a position where they would have to use the United States military force to enforce my rights as a citizen.”
March Against Fear, 1966
On June 6, 1966, Meredith began a one-man, 220-mile “March Against Fear” from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi. Meredith told reporters that his intent was “to challenge the all-pervasive overriding fear” that black Mississippians still felt when trying to register to vote, even after the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Asking only individual black citizens to join him, Meredith publicly rejected the involvement of the major civil rights organizations.
However, when Meredith was shot and wounded by a white gunman on the second day of the journey leaders and members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) all joined the march. Meredith recovered and rejoined the march just before some 15,000 marchers entered Jackson on June 26. During the trek, more than 4,000 black Mississippians registered to vote. Today, Mississippi has one of the nation’s highest rates of black voter registration and voting.
Highlights of the historic three-week march were famously recorded by SCLC’s photographer Bob Fitch. Fitch’s historic images include the voter registration of 106-year-old, born-in-slavery El Fondren, and black activist Stokely Carmichael’s defiant and captivating call for black power.
Meredith’s Political Views
Perhaps surprisingly, Meredith never wanted to be identified as part of the Civil Rights Movement and expressed disdain for the concept of racially-based civil rights.
As a lifelong moderate Republican, Meredith felt he was fighting for the same constitutional rights of all American citizen, regardless of their race. Of civil rights, he once stated, “Nothing could be more insulting to me than the concept of civil rights. It means perpetual second-class citizenship for me and my kind.”
Of his 1966 “March Against Fear,” Meredith recalled, “I got shot, and that allowed the movement protest thing to take over then and do their thing.”
In 1967, Meredith supported avowed segregationist Ross Barnett in his failed run for reelection as governor of Mississippi, and in 1991, he backed former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke in his close but unsuccessful race for governor of Louisiana.
Family Life
Meredith married his first wife, Mary June Wiggins, in 1956. They lived in Gary, Indiana and had three sons: James, John and Joseph Howard Meredith. Mary June died in 1979. In 1982, Meredith married Judy Alsobrooks in Jackson, Mississippi. They have one daughter together, Jessica Howard Meredith.
After graduating from Ole Miss, Meredith continued his education in political science, at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. Returning to the U.S. in 1965, he went on to earn a law degree from Columbia University in 1968.
When his third son, Joseph, graduated at the top of his class from the University of Mississippi in 2002, after having also earned a degree from Harvard University, James Meredith stated, “I think there's no better proof that white supremacy was wrong than not only to have my son graduate but to graduate as the most outstanding graduate of the school. That, I think, vindicates my whole life.”
Sources
Donovan, Kelley Anne (2002). “James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss.” Chrestomathy: Annual Review of Undergraduate Research at the College of Charleston
.”Mississippi and Meredith remember CNN (October 1, 2002).
.” June 1966: Meredith March“SNCC Digital Gateway
Signer, Rachel. “.”
On the civil rights trail with Bob Fitch
Waging Non-Violence (March 21, 2012).
Waxman, Olivia B. “James Meredith on What Today's Activism Is Missing.” Time Magazine (June 6, 2016)'
FYI SP5 Jeannie Carle SPC Chris Bayner-Cwik SPC Diana Rodriguez SPC Diana D. SSG Diane R. LTC Hillary Luton Sgt Kelli Mays SFC (Join to see) SSG(P) James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" MSG Andrew White SSG(P) (Join to see) 1SG Steven Imerman COL Mikel J. Burroughs Col Carl Whicker MAJ Rene De La Rosa TSgt David L.SFC William Farrell SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSLPO1 William "Chip" Nagel
Images:
1. James Meredith, the first African American student to enroll at the University of Mississippi, holds a newspaper as he attempts to register at the university
2. James Meredith is escorted by U.S. Marshals. A riot broke out in 1962 when Meredith tried to enroll at the University of Mississippi.
3. James Meredith 'Liberal whites are the greatest enemy of African Americans"
Deadly Riots at Ol' Miss
"35 US Marshalls are shot in attempt to admit the first black at the university"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVqvCuOwpZU
Background from thoughtco.com/james-meredith-american-civil-rights-4588489
by Robert Longley Updated March 14, 2019
James Meredith is an African American political activist and Air Force veteran who rose to prominence during the U.S. Civil Rights Movement by becoming the first black student admitted to the previously segregated University of Mississippi (“Ole Miss”).
The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the university to integrate the school, but Mississippi state police initially blocked Meredith’s entrance. After campus riots occurred, leaving two people dead, Meredith was allowed to enter the university under the protection of U.S. federal marshals and military troops. Though the events at Ole Miss forever entrenched him as a major civil rights figure, Meredith has expressed opposition to the concept of race-based civil rights.
Fast Facts: James Meredith
Known For: First black student to enroll in the segregated University of Mississippi, an act that made him a major figure in the civil rights movement
Born: June 25, 1933 in in Kosciusko, Mississippi
Education: University of Mississippi, Columbia Law School
Major Awards and Honors: Harvard Graduate School of Education “Medal for Education Impact” (2012)
Early Life and Education
James Meredith was born on June 25, 1933, in Kosciusko, Mississippi, to Roxie (Patterson) and Moses Meredith. He completed 11th grade at Attala County, Mississippi Training School, which was racially segregated under the state's Jim Crow laws. In 1951, he finished high school at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, Florida. Days after graduating, Meredith joined the U.S. Air Force, serving from 1951 through 1960.
After honorably separating from the Air Force, Meredith attended and excelled at traditionally black Jackson State College until 1962. He then decided to apply to the strictly segregated University of Mississippi, stating at the time, “I am familiar with the probable difficulties involved in such a move as I am undertaking and I am fully prepared to pursue it all the way to a degree from the University of Mississippi.”
Denied Admission
Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address, Meredith’s stated goal in applying to Ole Miss was to persuade the Kennedy administration to enforce civil rights for African Americans. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic 1954 ruling in the civil rights case of Brown v. Board of Education that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, the university persisted in admitting white students only.
After being denied admission twice, Meredith filed suit in U.S. District Court with the support of Medgar Evers, who was then head of the Mississippi chapter of the NAACP. The suit alleged that the university had rejected him solely because of he was African American. After several hearings and appeals, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Meredith had a constitutional right to be admitted to the state-supported university. Mississippi immediately appealed the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Ole Miss Riot
On September 10, 1962, the Supreme Court ruled that the University of Mississippi had to admit African American students. In clear defiance of the Supreme Court’s ruling, Mississippi governor Ross Barnett, on September 26, ordered state police to prevent Meredith from setting foot on the school’s campus. “No school will be integrated in Mississippi while I am your governor,” he proclaimed.
On the evening of September 30, riots on the University of Mississippi campus erupted over Meredith’s enrollment. During the overnight violence, two people died from gunshot wounds, and white protestors pelted federal marshals with bricks and small arms fire. Several cars were set on fire and university property was severely damaged.
By sunrise on October 1, 1962, federal troops had regained control of the campus, and escorted by armed federal marshals, James Meredith became the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi.
Integration at the University of Mississippi
Though he suffered constant harassment and rejection by fellow students, he persisted, and went on to graduate with a degree in political science on August 18, 1963. Today, Meredith’s admission is considered one of the pivotal moments in the American Civil Rights Movement.
In 2002, Meredith spoke of his efforts to integrate Ole Miss. “I was engaged in a war. I considered myself engaged in a war from Day One,” he said in an interview with CNN. “And my objective was to force the federal government—the Kennedy administration at that time—into a position where they would have to use the United States military force to enforce my rights as a citizen.”
March Against Fear, 1966
On June 6, 1966, Meredith began a one-man, 220-mile “March Against Fear” from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi. Meredith told reporters that his intent was “to challenge the all-pervasive overriding fear” that black Mississippians still felt when trying to register to vote, even after the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Asking only individual black citizens to join him, Meredith publicly rejected the involvement of the major civil rights organizations.
However, when Meredith was shot and wounded by a white gunman on the second day of the journey leaders and members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) all joined the march. Meredith recovered and rejoined the march just before some 15,000 marchers entered Jackson on June 26. During the trek, more than 4,000 black Mississippians registered to vote. Today, Mississippi has one of the nation’s highest rates of black voter registration and voting.
Highlights of the historic three-week march were famously recorded by SCLC’s photographer Bob Fitch. Fitch’s historic images include the voter registration of 106-year-old, born-in-slavery El Fondren, and black activist Stokely Carmichael’s defiant and captivating call for black power.
Meredith’s Political Views
Perhaps surprisingly, Meredith never wanted to be identified as part of the Civil Rights Movement and expressed disdain for the concept of racially-based civil rights.
As a lifelong moderate Republican, Meredith felt he was fighting for the same constitutional rights of all American citizen, regardless of their race. Of civil rights, he once stated, “Nothing could be more insulting to me than the concept of civil rights. It means perpetual second-class citizenship for me and my kind.”
Of his 1966 “March Against Fear,” Meredith recalled, “I got shot, and that allowed the movement protest thing to take over then and do their thing.”
In 1967, Meredith supported avowed segregationist Ross Barnett in his failed run for reelection as governor of Mississippi, and in 1991, he backed former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke in his close but unsuccessful race for governor of Louisiana.
Family Life
Meredith married his first wife, Mary June Wiggins, in 1956. They lived in Gary, Indiana and had three sons: James, John and Joseph Howard Meredith. Mary June died in 1979. In 1982, Meredith married Judy Alsobrooks in Jackson, Mississippi. They have one daughter together, Jessica Howard Meredith.
After graduating from Ole Miss, Meredith continued his education in political science, at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. Returning to the U.S. in 1965, he went on to earn a law degree from Columbia University in 1968.
When his third son, Joseph, graduated at the top of his class from the University of Mississippi in 2002, after having also earned a degree from Harvard University, James Meredith stated, “I think there's no better proof that white supremacy was wrong than not only to have my son graduate but to graduate as the most outstanding graduate of the school. That, I think, vindicates my whole life.”
Sources
Donovan, Kelley Anne (2002). “James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss.” Chrestomathy: Annual Review of Undergraduate Research at the College of Charleston
.”Mississippi and Meredith remember CNN (October 1, 2002).
.” June 1966: Meredith March“SNCC Digital Gateway
Signer, Rachel. “.”
On the civil rights trail with Bob Fitch
Waging Non-Violence (March 21, 2012).
Waxman, Olivia B. “James Meredith on What Today's Activism Is Missing.” Time Magazine (June 6, 2016)'
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