On this day in 1962, violence erupted in Oxford, Mississippi, as James H. Meredith, an African American Air Force veteran, attempted to integrate the University of Mississippi.
Meredith was escorted onto the premises by U.S. Marshals under federal order, but his arrival led to a deadly riot that claimed the lives of two men, left hundreds injured, and took more than 3,000 federal troops to restore order.
Despite the chaos, Meredith successfully enrolled the following day, walking into classrooms under the watchful protection of federal forces.
Meredith was initially accepted by the university in 1962; his admission was suddenly withdrawn as soon as officials realized he was Black. Meredith challenged the decision in court, backed by the NAACP. A federal appeals court ruled in his favor, ordering the university to admit him.
“Only whites were allowed by law and practice to attend the University of Mississippi – a public institution supported by public dollars. Anything public and supported by public dollars is for me,” Meredith boldly told students at the Ohio Wesleyan University in February 1985.
Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett blocked Meredith’s registration on September 20, 1962, propelling a showdown between state defiance and federal authority. When Barnett ignored court orders, he was found guilty of civil contempt and threatened with hefty fines and arrest if he continued his rebellion.
On September 30, U.S. Marshals escorted Meredith to the Oxford campus. A violent white mob gathered, throwing bricks, bottles and unloading gunfire. The unrest turned deadly when two men, a French journalist and a local bystander, were killed in the chaos. Federal forces rushed into Oxford, and by dawn, the campus was under military control.
The next day, Meredith walked into class.
“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,” Meredith said of his fight.
Meredith graduated in 1963 with a degree in political science. But his fight for civil rights didn’t end there. In 1966, he launched the “March Against Fear,” a one-man protest to promote Black voter registration. Just two days in, he was shot and wounded by a sniper.
The march still went ahead. Revered civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael, joined in, carrying the march to Jackson, Mississippi. Along the way, Carmichael first introduced the concept of “Black Power,” subtly shifting the tone within the movement.
Meredith recovered and rejoined the march, witnessing the registration of thousands of new Black voters by its end.
