James Meredith was born on June 25, 1933. He is known for being the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss. This was a major point in the American civil rights movement.
In the 1950's few African Americans were being let into White schools and colleges in the South. James had been in the airforce for nine years and had studied at Jackson State College, which is an all-black school. He had applied at Ole Miss many times but, every time getting turned down. He wanted to go to Ole Miss for his country, his family, his race, and himself. He knew he was getting turned down only because he was colored, so he took action. With the help of the NAACP, in 1962, James Meredith sued Mississppi University saying that they were descriminating against him because he was black. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Meredith.
Meredith's little bit of faith he had by winning the law suit was once again tested by the governor of Mississippi, Ross Barnett. Barnett was going to do everything in his power to make sure Meredith didn't get accepted into Ole Miss. He made a new law stating that anyone who convicted a state crime could not be accepted into a state school. This applied to Meredith, he had been convicted of "false voter registration." An agreement was finally made between Barnett, Meredith, and General Robert Kennedy, Meredith's attorny. On October 1, 1962 James Meredith became the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi. When he arrived to the college he had to be protected by federal forces. A group of 2,000 people were on the Oxford, Mississippi campus when Meredith arrived. A riot started and 2 people were killed and about 200 were injured. President
Kennedy had to send 31,000 troops to end the chaos.
Though Meredith's two semesters at Ole Miss were hard, Meredith did graduate from Ole Miss in 1963 with a degree in political science. Meredith also attended University of Ibadan and got his law degree from Columbia University in 1968. Meredith led a civil rights march that went from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi. He was trying to raise awareness about black's voting rights. During this march Aubrey James Norvell tried to shoot Meredith. Meredith survived and went on to do many more great things in history.
SOURCES:
http://www.history.com/genericContent.do?id=61744&milestoneid=21
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