James Meredith

CTL-E-5385 · Person · activist · 1933–present

VERIFIED evidence grade of this record

James Meredith, born James Howard Meredith in Kosciusko, Mississippi, in 1933, is an American civil rights figure, writer and Air Force veteran whose decision to attend his state's flagship university became a national test of federal law. After service in the United States Air Force from 1951 to 1960 and study at Jackson State College, he applied to the segregated University of Mississippi. Rejected because of his race, he sued with NAACP support, and federal courts ordered his admission. Governor Ross Barnett blocked him physically, rioting followed when he reached the Oxford campus under federal protection on September 30, 1962, and two people were killed. Meredith began classes on October 1, 1962, as the university's first Black student, and graduated in political science in 1963. He later earned a law degree from Columbia University. In June 1966 he began a solitary March Against Fear from Memphis to Jackson to encourage Black voter registration; a sniper wounded him on the second day, other leaders continued the march, and Meredith recovered, rejoined it, and entered Jackson with thousands of marchers on June 26.

The record

• Also known as: James Howard Meredith, James H. Meredith

Notes

Statistics: Born June 25, 1933, Kosciusko, Mississippi; admitted to the University of Mississippi on October 1, 1962, after riots in which 2 people died (King Institute / HISTORY, accessed 2026-10-15); graduated 1963 in political science; shot June 6, 1966, on the second day of the March Against Fear and rejoined the march, reaching Jackson June 26, 1966. March registration and crowd totals vary by source (about 4,000 registrations and an estimated 15,000 at Jackson appear in different accounts) and are not blended here. · Curator's Judgment: DRAFT — A solitary, self-directed kind of courage: Meredith acted first and alone at Ole Miss and again on the March Against Fear, forcing institutions and movements alike to respond. · Photo slot: CLEARED — Wikimedia Commons File:James Meredith.jpg, Marion S. Trikosko, Public domain, verified via Commons API 2026-10-15; direct URL https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/James_Meredith.jpg; master in packet photos/.

Relationships

• Martin Luther King Jr. — related to
  After James Meredith was shot on the March Against Fear he began in June 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. joined other leaders in continuing the march, and Meredith rejoined and completed it with them on June 26, 1966; King's institute also records his 1963 public letter supporting Meredith.

Sources

• Encyclopaedia Britannica Kids, "James Meredith" — https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/James-Meredith/399974 (primary source)
• Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University, "Meredith, James Howard" — http://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/meredith-james-howard
• HISTORY, "Civil rights activist James Meredith shot" — http://history.com/this-day-in-history/june-6/james-meredith-shot

Record CTL-E-5385 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: VERIFIED · 3 sources (1 primary) · 1 mapped relationship · CTL research: PPL-001.
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