James Meridth

Entrance to the University of Mississippi
Meredith was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi of Native American (Choctaw) and Black American heritage. He enlisted in the United States Air Force right out of high school and served from 1951 to 1960. He then attended Jackson State College for two years. He applied to the University of Mississippi, but was denied twice.[1]

On October 1, 1962, he became the first black student at the University of Mississippi,[2] after being barred from entering on September 20. His enrollment, virulently opposed by segregationist Governor Ross Barnett, sparked riots on the Oxford campus, which required federal troops and U.S. Marshals, who were sent by President John F. Kennedy. The riots led to a violent clash which left two people dead, including French journalist Paul Guihard,[3] on assignment for the London Daily Sketch, who was found behind a dormitory block with a gunshot wound to the back. 48 soldiers were injured and 28 U.S. Marshals were wounded by gunfire. Barnett was fined $10,000 and sentenced to jail for contempt, but the charges were later dismissed by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Bob Dylan sang about the incident in his song Oxford Town. Meredith's actions are regarded as a pivotal moment in the history of civil rights in the United States. He graduated on August 18, 1963 with a degree in political science.

Many students harassed Meredith during his first two semesters on campus. Though the majority of students accepted Meredith's presence, according to first person accounts chronicled in Nadine Cohodas's book The Band Played Dixie, students living in Meredith's dorm bounced basketballs on the floor just above his room through all hours of the night. When Meredith walked into the cafeteria for meals, the students eating would all turn their backs. If Meredith sat at a table with other students, all of whom were white, the students would immediately get up and go to another table.


[edit] Life after graduation
Meredith continued his education at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. He received an LL.B (law degree) from Columbia University in 1968. Meredith ceased being a civil rights activist in the late 1960s and found employment as a stockbroker.

He led a civil rights march, the March Against Fear from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi in 1966 and was wounded by sniper Aubrey James Norvell on June 6.[4] The photograph of Meredith after being shot won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in 1967.[5] J. B. Lenoir sings about this incident in the song Shot on James Meredith.

As an author Meredith wrote a memoir of his days at the University of Mississippi entitled Three Years in Mississippi, published by the Indiana University Press in 1966, and also self-published several books. He was an active Republican and served for several years as a domestic advisor on the staff of United States Senator Jesse Helms. Faced with harsh criticism from the Civil Rights community, Meredith said that he wrote every member of the Senate and House offering his services to them in order to gain access to the Library of Congress, and that only Helms replied.

Meredith made several attempts to be elected to Congress as a Republican. He became increasingly conservative and in 1988 accused liberal whites of being "the greatest enemy" of African Americans.[6] He also opposed economic sanctions against South Africa and making the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. a national holiday.[6]

In 2002, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his desegregation of the University of Mississippi, at the age of 69, Meredith was the proprietor of a small used car lot in Jackson, Mississippi. On the celebration activities surrounding the anniversary he said, "It was an embarrassment for me to be there, and for somebody to celebrate it, oh my God."[7] Around this same time, Meredith was the special guest speaker for a seminar at Mississippi State University. Among other topics, Meredith spoke of his experiences at the University of Mississippi. During a question and answer session, a young white male in attendance stood up and asked Meredith if he had participated in a formal Rush program while during his historic tenure at the University of Mississippi. Meredith replied, "Doesn't that have something to do with being in a fraternity?" The young man replied "Yes," and Meredith did not dignify the question with any further response. The audience found humor in Meredith's dismissal of the idea that he, who was accompanied by armed military personnel in order to safely attend the university, would be either allowed to or interested in gaining membership into a fraternity at that time.

Earlier that same year, Mr. Meredith watched his son, Joseph Meredith, graduate from Ole Miss with a doctorate in Business Administration. Joseph, who had previously earned degrees from Harvard University and Millsaps College, graduated as the most outstanding doctoral student in the School of Business Administration. The elder Meredith said, "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," Meredith says. "That, I think, vindicates my whole life."[8]

James Meredith views himself as an individual American citizen who demanded and got the rights properly extended to any American, not as a participant in the U.S. civil rights movement. There is considerable enmity between James Meredith and the organized Civil Rights Movement. Meredith once said that "Nothing could be more insulting to me than the concept of civil rights. It means perpetual second-class citizenship for me and my kind."[9]

In an interview for CNN, Meredith stated, "I was engaged in a war. I considered myself engaged in a war from Day One. 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."[10]

On February 8, 2008 James Meredith's son, Joseph Howard Meredith, died at age 39 from complications arising from lupus. At the time of his death he was an assistant professor of finance in the College of Business Administration, Division of International Banking and Finance Studies at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, TX. He was preceded in death by his mother Mary June Wiggins Meredith and left behind a daughter, Jasmine Victoria.

On August 23, 1989, a Maine judge sentenced James Meredith Jr., son of the civil rights activist, to one year's house arrest for a 1987 car crash that killed two people. Meredith pleaded no contest to two counts of vehicular manslaughter in the crash that killed Paul Huard, 44, and Kevin Jones, 26. Huard and Jones, who worked with Meredith at a restaurant in Ogunquit, Maine, were riding in Meredith's sports car when it missed a curve and struck a large boulder. The three were returning from a dinner celebration near Boston. Police said speed and alcohol were factors in the crash. Meredith, 20, was seriously injured. [11]

James Meredith is currently living in Jackson, Mississippi with his wife, Judy Alsobrook Meredith. He has one daughter, Jessica Meredith Knight and two surviving sons, James Meredith and John Meredith.

Meredith, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES James H. Meredith (full name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION An American civil rights movement figure. He was the first African-American student at the University of Mississippi
DATE OF BIRTH 1933-06-25
PLACE OF BIRTH Kosciusko, Mississippi
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH

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