When does james meredith finally graduate from the university of mississippi?

On this date in 1963, 30-year-old James Meredith became the first African-American student to graduate from the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), with a degree in political science.

An Air Force veteran of African-American, British Canadian, Scots and Choctaw heritage, Meredith attended Jackson State University for two years, achieving good grades. In 1962 he became the first African-American student admitted to the segregated Ole Miss. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, Meredith decided to exercise his constitutional rights and apply to Ole Miss, thereby pressuring the Kennedy administration to enforce civil rights for African Americans.

In 1961 he started his application. Meredith wrote that he wanted admission for his country, race, family, and himself. He said, “Nobody handpicked me…. I believed, and believe now, that I have a Divine Responsibility…. I am familiar with the probable difficulties involved in such a move as I am undertaking and I am fully prepared to pursue it all the way to a degree from the University of Mississippi.”

Twice denied admission, he filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, alleging that the university had rejected him only because of his race. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that Meredith had the right to be admitted, and the Supreme Court upheld the ruling.

On September 13, 1962, the District Court entered an injunction directing the university Board of Trustees and officials to register Meredith. Ross Barnett, Democratic governor of Mississippi, declared that “no school will be integrated in Mississippi while I am your governor.” On September 28, the Court of Appeals found the governor in civil contempt and ordered that he be arrested and pay a fine of $10,000 for each day that he kept up the refusal, unless he complied by October 2. On September 29, Lieut. Gov. Paul B. Johnson, Jr. was found in contempt, and a similar order was entered against him, with a fine of $5,000 a day.

U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy had a series of phone calls with Gov. Barnett between September 27 and October 1. Barnett reluctantly agreed to let Meredith enroll. On September 29, Pres. Kennedy issued a proclamation commanding all persons engaged in the obstruction of the laws and the orders of the courts to peaceably comply, citing his authority to use the militia or the armed forces to suppress any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.

Gov. Barnett had committed to RFK that he would maintain civil order, but by secret agreement to help Barnett save face, RFK ordered 500 U.S. marshals to accompany Meredith during his arrival and registration.

Whites opposing integration gathered at the campus. On the evening of September 29, a riot broke out, and the Kennedy administration ordered the nationalized Mississippi National Guard and federal troops to the campus. In the violent clashes that followed, two men were killed by gunshot wounds, and the white mob burned cars, pelted federal marshals with rocks, bricks and small arms fire, and damaged university property.

On October 1, 1962, after troops took control, Meredith became the first African American student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. His admission was a pivotal moment in the history of civil rights. He persisted through constant harassment and extreme isolation until he graduated the following year.

In 1966 Meredith planned a solo 220-mile March Against Fear from Memphis, Tenn. to Jackson, highlighting continuing racism in the South and encouraging voter registration after passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. On his second day, he was shot by a white gunman and suffered numerous wounds. But the march continued in his name as he lay recovering. Ultimately 15,000 more people from across the country became involved, in what was the largest civil rights march in the state, during which more than 4,000 African Americans registered to vote.

In 1966, his memoir “Three Years in Mississippi” was released by the Indiana University Press. He has also published several books on politics and society. He lives in Jackson, Miss.

Ole Miss has several times publicly commemorated Meredith’s integration of the institution. A statue on campus honors him. The Lyceum-The Circle Historic District at the center of the campus has been designated as a National Historic Landmark for his role.

Adapted from Wikipedia.

Photo: Remaining racial tension: This past February, a noose and an old Georgia flag that included the Confederate battle emblem were found draped on the Meredith statue at the University of Mississippi. AP

Tags:

• activism
• civil rights
• Education
• law
• racism

On Aug. 18, 1963, James Meredith was awarded a bachelor’s degree by the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), becoming the first black man to graduate from the school.

“The commencement ceremony went off without incident,” reported The New York Times, in contrast to his admission less than a year earlier.

Mr. Meredith, a strong-minded man who considered himself fighting in a “war” for his rights as a citizen, first applied to Ole Miss in January 1961. After an 18-month legal battle, a court ordered the university to admit him, but a strong segregationist faction led by the Mississippi governor, Ross Barnett, refused to let him register in September 1962.

While the governor knew that he would eventually have to admit Mr. Meredith, he did not want to appear weak to his fellow segregationists. At one point, he asked Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to instruct United States marshals to point guns at him, to give the impression that he was forced to relent.

On Sept. 30, 1962, hundreds of federal marshals secured the campus and sneaked Mr. Meredith into a dormitory. That evening, Ole Miss students and area segregationists began attacking the marshals and rioting. President John F. Kennedy ordered federal troops to quell the rioting, which left two dead.

On the morning of Oct. 1, with thousands of armed troops surrounding the campus, Mr. Meredith was at last able to register for classes. He spent a year at the school, accompanied by United States marshals, and faced near-daily harassment and isolation from his fellow students.

Having accumulated credits at another school, Mr. Meredith needed only a year to graduate, but the degree didn’t matter to him. “It was never about education — never about education,” Mr. Meredith explained in a recent interview with the National Visionary Leadership Project. “It was about power. It was about citizenship. It was about enjoying everything any other man enjoys. It ain’t never been about education.”

In 1966, Mr. Meredith tried a one-man March Against Fear from Memphis to Jackson, Miss., but was shot in the leg by a would-be assassin. Civil rights leaders including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael completed the march in Mr. Meredith’s name.

Mr. Meredith received a law degree from Columbia and became active in politics, surprising many and angering some civil rights leaders by running for Congress as a Republican. Later, he served on the staff of conservative Senator Jesse Helms and supported the former Klansman David Duke’s bid for Louisiana governor.

Connect to Today:

Over the years, the University of Mississippi has upheld many customs and systems that reflect the heritage of the South; in fact, the university’s nickname “Ole Miss” is likely derived from an expression once used by slaves for the plantation owner’s wife. In recent years, the school has ended many of these customs in an effort to be more inclusive to blacks, from banning Confederate flags at football games to discontinuing “Dixie,” a minstrel song about a slave pining for his days in the South, as the unofficial fight song. Last year, the school unveiled a new bear mascot to replace its traditional mascot, Colonel Reb, “a white-goateed, cane-toting Southern plantation owner that many have criticized as racist and anachronistic.”

While many have applauded the university’s decisions, there are students and alumni who continue to support Colonel Reb and believe that the school should hold on to its longstanding mascot. Do you think Ole Miss and other institutions with customs and symbols considered offensive can preserve tradition and at the same time, meet the needs of the campus community?

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