James Meredith is a civil rights activist, writer, and U.S. Air Force veteran best known for integrating the University of Mississippi in 1962, an act that sparked a deadly riot and forced the U.S. government to deploy thousands of troops.
James Howard Meredith’s fight to integrate the University of Mississippi in 1962 was one of the most explosive moments in the civil rights movement, triggering a deadly riot and forcing the U.S. government to deploy thousands of troops.
Born on June 25, 1933, in Kosciusko, Mississippi, James Meredith grew up in the deeply segregated South. His early education reflected the racial inequalities of the time—he attended segregated schools, finishing high school at Gibbs High School in Florida. In 1951, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, serving for nine years before enrolling at Jackson State College, a historically Black institution.
Meredith, however, had a bigger goal in mind: he wanted to challenge the racist policies that kept Black students out of Mississippi’s flagship public university.
In 1961, Meredith applied to the University of Mississippi—commonly known as Ole Miss—fully aware that no Black student had ever been admitted. He was inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, which emphasized civic responsibility and equality.
His application was immediately rejected. Undeterred, Meredith, with legal support from the NAACP, filed a lawsuit, arguing that his rejection was based solely on race. After multiple hearings, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in his favor, and the Supreme Court upheld the decision. However, Mississippi’s segregationist government was determined to resist.
Governor Ross Barnett, a staunch segregationist, publicly vowed that “no school will be integrated in Mississippi while I am your governor.” The state legislature hastily passed new laws to block Meredith, even fabricating criminal charges to disqualify him. Each time, federal courts struck down these efforts, but Barnett personally intervened to prevent Meredith from enrolling.
On September 30, 1962, Meredith arrived at the University of Mississippi under federal protection. White students, fueled by racist politicians and segregationist rhetoric, gathered in large numbers to protest. The crowd, joined by white supremacists from outside the state, turned into an enraged mob.
That night, a full-scale riot broke out. Armed rioters attacked U.S. Marshals with bricks, bottles, and gunfire. Federal forces responded with tear gas, but the violence escalated. Two people were killed, over 300 were injured, and the University of Mississippi became a war zone. President Kennedy, seeing the gravity of the situation, ordered 31,000 federal troops to restore order—the largest military intervention in a civil rights case in American history.
Amid the chaos, Meredith remained resolute. The next day, under heavy military escort, he walked into the administration building and registered for classes, officially becoming the first Black student at Ole Miss.
Meredith’s victory came at a cost. White students and faculty largely ostracized him. His dormitory was guarded around the clock, yet he endured constant harassment—students bouncing basketballs above his room at night, and hurling racial slurs.
Despite the hostility, he remained focused. After enduring a year of isolation and threats, he graduated with a degree in political science on August 18, 1963, proving that he could not be broken.
Meredith did not stop at Ole Miss. In 1966, he launched the “March Against Fear,” a solo 220-mile trek from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi. His goal was to challenge the lingering racial terror in the South and encourage Black voter registration.
On the second day, a white gunman named Aubrey James Norvell shot Meredith multiple times, wounding him in the head, back, and legs. He survived, but the attack galvanized the civil rights movement.
Major leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., Stokely Carmichael, and Floyd McKissick, rallied to complete the march in Meredith’s name. What began as a one-man protest became a massive demonstration of over 15,000 people. It was during this march that Carmichael first popularized the slogan “Black Power.”
Meredith recovered and rejoined the march before it reached Jackson, where over 4,000 Black Mississippians registered to vote, marking a major victory for the movement.
Meredith also made multiple unsuccessful runs for public office, including a bid for the U.S. Senate in 1972. Though he never won, he remained an outspoken advocate for Black self-sufficiency and personal responsibility.
Meredith continued his education, studying at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria before earning a law degree from Columbia University. Over time, he surprised many by shifting his political views, aligning himself with conservative causes and even working for segregationist Senator Jesse Helms.
His decision to work for Helms drew sharp criticism from the civil rights community, as Helms was an avowed segregationist and a staunch defender of South Africa’s apartheid government. Since the mid-1980s, Meredith has argued in interviews that integration was “a sham” and “the biggest con job ever pulled on any people,” claiming it shattered cultural and family networks that had been the backbone of the Black community. In response to the backlash, he explained that he had applied to every member of the Senate and House offering his services, and only Helms’ office responded.
Despite his complicated political stance, Meredith’s role in the civil rights movement remains undeniable. In 2002 and 2012, the University of Mississippi hosted commemorative events marking the 40th and 50th anniversaries of his enrollment. The campus now features a statue of him, though Meredith himself has expressed mixed feelings about being celebrated for what he calls an “embarrassing” moment in American history.
‘It was an embarrassment for me to be there, and for somebody to celebrate it, oh my God,” says the 69-year-old Meredith. ”I want to go down in history, and have a bunch of things named after me, but believe me that ain’t it.”
Sources:
https://web.archive.org/web/20071016065534/http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/092102/new_20020921041.shtml
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/1/newsid_2538000/2538169.stm
https://www.npr.org/2012/10/01/161573289/integrating-ole-miss-a-transformative-deadly-riot
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/race/100262race-ra.html
