James Howard Meredith (born
June 25, 1933) is an
American civil rights movement figure, although he vocally prefers
not to be regarded as such.
He was born in
Kosciusko, Mississippi of
Native American (
Choctaw) and
African American heritage. Meredith 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.
On
October 1, 1962, he became the first black student at the
University of Mississippi, after being barred from entering on
September 20. His enrollment, opposed by 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, 48 soldiers injured and 30 U.S. Marshals with gun wounds. His 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 history.
After his time at the University of Mississippi, Meredith continued his education at the
University of Ibadan in
Nigeria (1964-65) and at
Columbia University (1966-68).
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. The photograph of Meredith after being shot won the
Pulitzer Prize for Photography in
1967.
As an author he wrote a memoir of his days at the University of Mississippi entitled
Three Years in Mississippi and several
self-published 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.
He made several attempts to be elected to
Congress as a Republican. He also endorsed
David Duke's bid to become governor of Louisiana in 1991.
In
2002, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his
desegregation of the
University of Mississippi, at the age of 69, he was the proprietor of a small used car lot in
Jackson, Mississippi. On the celebration activities surrounding the 40th anniversary Meredith said, "It was an embarrassment for me to be there, and for somebody to celebrate it, oh my God."
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 (Jackson, MS), 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."
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."
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."
