James Howard Meredith was born on June 25,1933 and is an American civil rights activist, writer, political adviser, and United States Air Force veteran who became, in 1962, the first African-American student admitted to the racially segregated University of Mississippi after the intervention of the federal government.
32 Facts About James Meredith
2.
James Meredith's goal was to put pressure on the Kennedy administration to enforce civil rights for African Americans.
3.
The admission of Meredith ignited the Ole Miss riot of 1962 where Meredith's life was threatened and 31,000 American servicemen were required to quell the violence - the largest ever invocation of the Insurrection Act of 1807.
4.
In 1966, James Meredith planned a solo 220-mile March Against Fear from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi; he wanted to highlight continuing racism in the South and encourage voter registration after passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
5.
James Meredith did not want major civil rights organizations involved.
6.
James Meredith was among numerous speakers invited to the campus, where a statue of him commemorates his role.
7.
James Meredith was born in 1933 in Kosciusko, Mississippi, the son of Roxie and Moses James Meredith.
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James Meredith is of African-American, English Canadian, Scots and Choctaw heritage.
9.
James Meredith completed 11th grade at Attala County Training School and completed 12th grade at Gibbs High School in St Petersburg, Florida.
10.
In 1961, inspired the day before by US President John F Kennedy, Meredith started to apply to the University of Mississippi, intending to insist on his civil rights to attend the state-funded university.
11.
James Meredith wrote in his application that he wanted admission for his country, race, family, and himself.
12.
On May 31,1961, James Meredith, with backing of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, filed suit in the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, alleging that the university had rejected him only because of his race, as he had a highly successful record of military service and academic courses.
13.
The conviction against James Meredith was trumped up: James Meredith both owned land in northern Mississippi and was registered to vote in Jackson, where he lived.
14.
That day James Meredith was rebuffed again by Governor Barnett in his efforts to gain admission, though university officials were prepared to admit him.
15.
Barnett reluctantly agreed to let James Meredith enroll in the university, but secretly bargained with Kennedy on a plan which would allow him to save face.
16.
The day after the riots, on October 1,1962, after federal and state forces took control, James Meredith became the first African-American student to enroll at the University of Mississippi.
17.
James Meredith's admission is regarded as a pivotal moment in the history of civil rights in the United States.
18.
James Meredith persisted through harassment and extreme isolation to graduate on August 18,1963, with a degree in political science.
19.
James Meredith continued his education, focusing on political science, at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.
20.
James Meredith attended law school through a scholarship at Columbia University and earned an LL.
21.
In 1966, James Meredith organized and led a solo, personal March Against Fear for 220 miles from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi, beginning on June 6,1966.
22.
James Meredith wanted blacks in Mississippi to overcome fear of violence.
23.
In 1967, while living and studying in New York, James Meredith decided to run as a Republican against incumbent Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
24.
James Meredith withdrew from the race and Powell was re-elected.
25.
James Meredith conceded that he had little chance of winning unless Governor George Wallace of Alabama entered the presidential race and split the white vote.
26.
An active Republican, James Meredith served from 1989 to 1991 as a domestic adviser on the staff of United States Senator Jesse Helms.
27.
James Meredith wanted a chance to do research at the Library of Congress.
28.
James Meredith said he had achieved his main goal at the time by getting the federal government to enforce his rights as a citizen.
29.
James Meredith was a supporter of the unsuccessful 1967 gubernatorial bid of ex-Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett, as well as the 1991 gubernatorial campaign of Louisiana State Representative and ex-Klansman David Duke.
30.
James Meredith later worked as a high school English teacher.
31.
Mary June James Meredith died of heart failure in December 1979.
32.
James Meredith had one son, Kip Naylor, from a previous marriage.