View source for James Meredith

{{Short description|American civil rights movement figure (born 1933)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}{{pp-semi-blp|small=yes}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = James Meredith
| image              = James Meredith Portrait.png
| caption            = Meredith in 2007
| birth_name         = James Howard Meredith
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|1933|6|25}}
| birth_place        = [[Kosciusko, Mississippi]], U.S.
| death_date         = 
| death_place        = 
| known_for          = First black student at the [[University of Mississippi]]
| education          = [[Jackson State University]]<br>[[University of Mississippi]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[Columbia University]] ([[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Mary June Wiggins|1956|1979|end=died}}
* {{marriage|Judy Alsobrooks|1982}}}}
| children           = 4
}}
'''James Howard Meredith''' (born June 25, 1933) is an American [[civil rights movement|civil rights]] activist, writer, political adviser, and [[United States Air Force]] veteran who became, in 1962, the first [[African-American]] student admitted to the [[Racial segregation|racially segregated]] [[University of Mississippi]] after the intervention of the federal government (an event that was a flashpoint in the [[civil rights movement]]).<ref name=LAT>{{cite news|work=[[The Los Angeles Times]]|title=James Meredith talks about vandals|first=Paresh|last=Dave|date=February 18, 2014|url=http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-james-meredith-statue-ole-miss-noose-race-20140218,0,2847383.story#axzz2tjX78AKS|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240330151937/https://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-james-meredith-statue-ole-miss-noose-race-20140218-story.html#axzz2tjX78AKS|archive-date=March 30, 2024}}</ref> Inspired by President [[John F. Kennedy]]'s inaugural address, Meredith decided to exercise his constitutional rights and apply to the University of Mississippi.<ref name="Bryant60">Bryant 2006, p. 60.</ref> His goal was to put pressure on the [[Kennedy administration]] to enforce civil rights for African Americans.<ref name="Bryant60"/> The admission of Meredith ignited the [[Ole Miss riot of 1962]] where Meredith's life was threatened and 31,000 American servicemen were required to quell the violence – the largest ever invocation of the [[Insurrection Act of 1807]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Doyle |first=William |title=An American Insurrection: The Battle of Oxford, Mississippi, 1962 |publisher=Random House Digital Inc. |year=2002 |isbn=9780385499699 |pages=277}}</ref>

In 1966, Meredith planned a solo {{convert|220|mi|km|abbr=off|adj=on|sp=us}} [[March Against Fear]] from [[Memphis, Tennessee]], to [[Jackson, Mississippi]]; he wanted to highlight continuing racism in the South and encourage voter registration after passage of the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]]. He did not want major civil rights organizations involved. The second day, he was shot by a white gunman and suffered numerous wounds. Leaders of major organizations vowed to complete the march in his name after he was taken to the hospital. While Meredith was recovering, more people from across the country became involved as marchers. He rejoined the march and when Meredith and other leaders entered Jackson on June 26, they were leading an estimated 15,000 marchers, in what was the largest civil rights march in Mississippi. During the march, more than 4,000 African Americans registered to vote, and it was a catalyst to continued community organizing and additional registration.

In 2002 and again in 2012, the University of Mississippi led year-long series of events to celebrate the 40th and 50th anniversaries of Meredith's integration of the institution. He was among numerous speakers invited to the campus, where a [[Statue of James Meredith|statue of him]] commemorates his role. The [[Lyceum-The Circle Historic District]] at the center of the campus has been designated as a [[National Historic Landmark]] for these events.

==Early life and education==
Meredith was born in 1933 in [[Kosciusko, Mississippi]], the son of Roxie (Patterson) and Moses Meredith.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/historians-miscellaneous-biographies/james-howard-meredith|title=James Howard Meredith|website=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref> He is of [[African-American]], [[English Canadians|English Canadian]], [[Scottish people|Scots]] and [[Choctaw]] heritage.<ref name="mcgee"/> His family nickname was "J-Boy".<ref name="mcgee">Meredith Coleman McGee. (2013) ''James Meredith: Warrior and the America That Created Him.'' Santa Barbara, California: Praeger, p. 15. Note: In her biography of him, his niece, Meredith Coleman McGee describes his ancestry as "a Negro of Choctaw descent," p. 133, and provides extensive genealogical material in the Appendix: "Family Tree of James Howard Meredith"</ref> European traders intermarried with some Choctaw during the colonial period. In the 1830s, thousands of Choctaw chose to stay in Mississippi and become United States citizens when most of the tribe left their traditional homeland for [[Indian Territory]] during the federally imposed [[Indian Removal|removal]]. Those in the state had unions with European Americans and African Americans (some of whom were enslaved), adding to the multi-racial population in the developing territory.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Wells|editor1-first=Samuel J.|editor2-last=Tubby|editor2-first=Roseanna|title=After Removal: The Choctaw in Mississippi|date=1986|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|location=Jackson|isbn=978-0878052899|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B5H_xoAOUhsC|access-date=February 3, 2018}}</ref>

Meredith completed 11th grade at Attala County Training School (which was segregated as "white" and "colored" under the state's [[Jim Crow]] laws) and completed 12th grade at [[Gibbs High School (St. Petersburg, Florida)|Gibbs High School]] in St. Petersburg, Florida.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cardon |first1=Dustin |title=James Meredith |url=http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/may/08/james-meredith/ |website=Jackson Free Press |publisher=Jackson Free Press, Inc. |access-date=May 27, 2019}}</ref> He graduated from high school in 1951. Then, Meredith enlisted in the [[United States Air Force]]. He served from 1951 to 1960.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Gale|first1=Thomson|title=James Howard Meredith|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/historians-miscellaneous-biographies/james-howard-meredith|website=Encyclopedia.com|access-date=November 7, 2016}}</ref>

Afterward Meredith attended [[Jackson State University]] for two years, achieving good grades.

==University of Mississippi==
[[File:James_Meredith.jpg|thumb|upright|Meredith in 1962]]

=== Challenge to the University ===
In 1961, inspired the day before by U.S. President [[John F. Kennedy]], Meredith started to apply to the [[University of Mississippi]], intending to insist on his civil rights to attend the state-funded university.<ref name=Donovan/> It still admitted only [[White American|white]] students under the state's culture of racial segregation, although the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] had ruled in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' (1954) that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, as they are supported by all the taxpayers.

Meredith wrote in his application that he wanted admission for his country, race, family, and himself. He said,

<blockquote>Nobody handpicked me...I believed, and believe now, that I have a Divine Responsibility...<ref name="Schlesinger317">Schlesinger 2002, p. 317.</ref> 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.</blockquote>

He was twice denied admission.<ref>{{cite web | title = James Meredith | work = Spartacus Educational | url = http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmeredith.htm | access-date = October 2, 2007 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071002172400/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmeredith.htm | archive-date = October 2, 2007 }}</ref> During this time, he was advised by [[Medgar Evers]], who was head of the state chapter of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] ([[NAACP]]).

On May 31, 1961, Meredith, with backing of the [[NAACP]] [[Legal Defense and Educational Fund]], filed suit in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi|U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi]], alleging that the university had rejected him only because of his race, as he had a highly successful record of military service and academic courses. The case went through many hearings, after which the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit]] ruled that Meredith had the right to be admitted to the state school. The state appealed to the [[U.S. Supreme Court]], which supported the ruling of the appeals court.<ref name="Time">{{cite magazine | title = The States: Though the Heavens Fall | magazine = Time | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,829233-5,00.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071014014142/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,829233-5,00.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = October 14, 2007 | access-date = October 3, 2007 | date=October 12, 1962}}</ref>

On September 13, 1962, the District Court entered an injunction directing the members of the Board of Trustees and the officials of the University to register Meredith.<ref name="barnett">''[[United States v. Barnett]]'', {{ussc|376|681|1964}}</ref> The Democratic Governor of Mississippi, [[Ross Barnett]], declared "no school will be integrated in Mississippi while I am your governor".  The state legislature quickly created a plan. They passed a law that denied admission to any person "who has a crime of moral turpitude against him" or who had been convicted of any felony offense or not pardoned. The same day it became law, Meredith was accused and convicted of "false voter registration," [[Trial in absentia|in absentia]], in Jackson County.<ref name=msbusiness>{{cite web
 | url=http://msbusiness.com/2015/12/analysis-book-shows-angles-of-miss-civil-rights-resistance/
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151215064443/http://msbusiness.com/2015/12/analysis-book-shows-angles-of-miss-civil-rights-resistance/
 | url-status=dead
 | archive-date=December 15, 2015
 | title=Opinion – Columns Analysis: Book shows angles of Miss. civil rights resistance
 | author=Emily Wagster Pettus
 | date=December 13, 2015
| access-date=March 22, 2015
}}</ref> The conviction against Meredith was trumped up: Meredith both owned land in northern Mississippi and was registered to vote in Jackson, where he lived. "Later the clerk testified that Meredith was qualified to register and vote in Jackson [where he was registered]."<ref name=Donovan>{{cite web
 | url=http://chrestomathy.cofc.edu/documents/vol1/donovan.pdf
 | title=James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss
 | author=Kelley Anne Donovan
 | work=Chrestomathy: Annual Review of Undergraduate Research at the College of Charleston
 |number = Volume 1
|pages = 24–3
 | date=2002
 | access-date=March 22, 2015 }}
</ref>
On September 20, the federal government obtained an injunction against enforcement of this Act and of the two state court decrees that had barred Meredith's registration.<ref name=barnett/> That day Meredith was rebuffed again by Governor Barnett in his efforts to gain admission, though university officials were prepared to admit him.<ref name=barnett/>  On September 25, Meredith attempted to register again, but Governor Barnett blocked Meredith’s entry to the College Board office.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Ole Miss - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |url=https://microsites.jfklibrary.org/olemiss/chronology/ |access-date=June 8, 2024 |website=microsites.jfklibrary.org}}</ref> On September 28, the Court of Appeals, ''en banc'' and after a hearing, found the Governor in civil contempt and ordered that he be [[arrest]]ed and pay a fine of $10,000 for each day that he kept up the refusal, unless he complied by October 2.<ref name=barnett/> On September 29, Lieutenant Governor [[Paul B. Johnson Jr.]] (elected Governor on November 5, 1963) was also found in contempt by a panel of the court, and a similar order was entered against him, with a fine of $5,000 a day.<ref name=barnett/>

Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy]] had a series of phone calls with Governor Barnett between September 27 to October 1.{{sfn | Branch | 1988 | pp=650–669}}<ref>Schlesinger 2002, p. 318.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Days of Confrontation: Telephone Conversations|url=http://microsites.jfklibrary.org/olemiss/confrontation/telephone.html|publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library}}</ref> Barnett reluctantly agreed to let Meredith enroll in the university, but secretly bargained with Kennedy on a plan which would allow him to save face.

Barnett committed to maintain civil order. Robert Kennedy ordered 127 [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshals]] as well as 316 deputized [[United States Border Patrol|U.S. Border Patrol]] and 97 [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]] officers to accompany Meredith during his arrival and registration.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2012/093012.htm|title=U.S. Marshals Mark 50th Anniversary of the Integration of 'Ole Miss'|access-date=April 23, 2020|archive-date=May 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523031013/https://www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2012/093012.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> On September 29, President Kennedy issued a proclamation commanding all persons engaged in the obstruction of the laws and the orders of the courts to "cease and desist therefrom and to disperse and retire peaceably forthwith", citing his authority under {{USC|10|332}}, {{USCSec|10|333}}, and {{USCSec|10|334}} to use the militia or the armed forces to suppress any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.<ref>{{USStat|76|1506}}</ref>{{sfn | Branch | 1988 | p=659}}<ref name=barnett/>

===Rioting at the University===
[[File:US Marshals at Ole Miss October 1962 cph.3c35522.jpg|thumb|U.S. Army trucks loaded with steel-helmeted federal agents roll across the University of Mississippi campus on October 3, 1962.]]
{{main|Ole Miss riot of 1962}}
On September 29, Governor Barnett made a spirited speech at halftime of the Ole Miss-Kentucky football game, firing up the crowd<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mitchell |first=Jerry |title=History: Meredith enters Ole Miss |url=https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/journeytojustice/2015/09/29/james-meredith-ole-miss/73025954/ |access-date=June 3, 2024 |website=The Clarion-Ledger |language=en-US}}</ref> and encouraging people to block Meredith’s entry to the university.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Brodsky |first=Megan |date=March 25, 2018 |title=Ole Miss Riot (1962) • |url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/ole-miss-riot-1962/ |access-date=June 3, 2024 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mulligan |first=Jackson |date=October 3, 2022 |title=60 Years of Integration: A Historical Reflection on James Meredith and the Integration of the University of Mississippi |url=https://thedmonline.com/60-years-of-integration-a-historical-reflection-on-james-meredith-and-the-integration-of-the-university-of-mississippi/ |access-date=June 3, 2024 |website=The Daily Mississippian |language=en-US}}</ref> He said, in part, "I love Mississippi! I love her people, our customs ... I love and I respect our heritage."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Elliott |first=Debbie |date=October 1, 2012 |title=Integrating Ole Miss: A Transformative, Deadly Riot |url=https://www.npr.org/2012/10/01/161573289/integrating-ole-miss-a-transformative-deadly-riot |access-date=June 2, 2024 |website=npr.org}}</ref>  The Ole Miss Band waved a large Confederate flag, and the stands were full of students waving Confederate flags.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Prints of Ole Miss Riot , 1962. Students waving Confederate flags at the University of Mississippi |url=https://www.mediastorehouse.com/granger-art-on-demand/ole-miss-riot-1962-students-waving-confederate-13641152.html |access-date=June 3, 2024 |website=Media Storehouse Photo Prints |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|first=David G. |last=Sansing |access-date=June 2, 2024 |title=The University of Mississippi: A Sesquicentennial History |chapter=Conflict, Change, and Continuity – 1960-1968 |date=1999 |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |url=https://50years.olemiss.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/139/2014/05/9781578060917_chp11.pdf |isbn=9781578060917}}</ref> President Kennedy sent federal marshals to Mississippi.<ref name=":0" />

On Sunday, September 30, 1962, Governor Barnett called the Attorney General, Robert Kennedy, to try to get him to postpone Meredith’s admission to the University.<ref name=":1" /> The Attorney General refused.<ref name=":2" /> Meredith, accompanied by Mississippi Highway Patrol and 500 federal marshals, moved into his dorm room.<ref name=":3" /> Outside the Lyceum building, where Meredith was due to register for classes the next day, a crowd of hostile students formed near the marshals who were protecting the building.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" /> At 7:30 p.m., the crowd broke into a riot.<ref name=":1" /> The crowd, which numbered 3000, threw bottles and rocks, and the marshals tear-gassed them.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> More than 300 people were injured, and two people were killed.<ref name=":0" />

=== Enrollment ===
The day after the riots, on October 1, 1962, after federal and state forces took control, Meredith became the first African-American student to enroll at the University of Mississippi.<ref>{{cite news | title = 1962: Mississippi race riots over first black student | work = BBC News – On this day | url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/1/newsid_2538000/2538169.stm | access-date = October 2, 2007 | date=October 1, 1962}}</ref> Meredith's admission is regarded as a pivotal moment in the history of [[civil rights]] in the United States.

Many students harassed Meredith during his two semesters on campus,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/18/aug-18-1963-james-meredith-graduates-from-mississippi/?_r=0|title = Aug. 18, 1963 &#124; James Meredith Graduates from Mississippi|date = August 18, 2011}}</ref> but others accepted him. According to first-person accounts, students living in Meredith's dorm bounced basketballs on the floor just above his room through all hours of the night. Other students ostracized him: when Meredith walked into the cafeteria for meals, the students eating would 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.<ref>''The band played Dixie: Race and the liberal conscience at Ole Miss'', Nadine Cohodas, (1997), New York, Free Press</ref> He persisted through harassment and extreme isolation to graduate on August 18, 1963, with a degree in political science.<ref name="LMAWCR2010">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of African American History, Volume 1|year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=890|author=Leslie M. Alexander|author2=Walter C. Rucker}}</ref>

==Education and activism==
[[File:James Meredith wounded.jpg|thumb|James Meredith wounded after being shot on June 7, 1966]]

Meredith continued his education, focusing on political science, at the [[University of Ibadan]] in [[Nigeria]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.biography.com/people/james-meredith-9406314|title=James Meredith Biography.com |website=biography.com |publisher=Biography|access-date=April 26, 2017}}</ref> He returned to the United States in 1965. He attended law school through a scholarship at [[Columbia University]] and earned an [[LL.B]] ([[law]] degree) in 1968<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/james_meredith.html|title=Columbians Ahead of Their Time: James Howard Meredith|access-date=September 30, 2024}}</ref>

In 1966, Meredith organized and led a solo, personal [[March Against Fear]] for 220 miles from [[Memphis, Tennessee]], to [[Jackson, Mississippi]], beginning on June 6, 1966. Inviting only black men to join him, he wanted to highlight continuing racial oppression in the [[Mississippi Delta]], as well as to encourage blacks to register and vote following passage of the federal [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]], which authorized federal oversight and enforcement of rights. Governor [[Paul B. Johnson, Jr.|Paul Johnson]] promised to allow the march and provide State Highway Police protection. Meredith wanted blacks in Mississippi to overcome fear of violence.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

Despite a police presence,<ref>{{cite web |title=A Shooting — and the Civil Rights Movement Changes Course |url=https://www.americanheritage.com/content/shooting-and-civil-rights-movement-changes-course |website=www.americanheritage.com |access-date=30 September 2024}}</ref> on the second day, Meredith was shot and wounded by Aubrey James Norvell, a white man whose motives were never determined,<!-- What was Norvell's background? Where did he live? What was his profession? --> and who pleaded guilty at trial. Meredith was quickly taken to a hospital.<ref>{{cite news | title = 6 June 1966: Black civil rights activist shot | work = BBC News – On this day | url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/6/newsid_3009000/3009967.stm | access-date = October 2, 2007 | date=June 6, 1966}}</ref><ref>[http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/special/mlk/king/photogalleries/66-68/02.html "James Meredith"], ''Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement'', 1966–1968, photos, ''Seattle Times'', 2008</ref> Leaders of major organizations rallied at the news and vowed to complete the march in Meredith's name. They struggled to reconcile differing goals, but succeeded in attracting more than 10,000 marchers from local towns and across the country by the end.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 19, 2016 |title=James Meredith and the March Against Fear |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/black-power/sncc/march-against-fear |access-date=March 20, 2024 |website=National Archives |language=en}}</ref>

Norvell pleaded guilty to battery and assault with intent to kill and was sentenced to five years in prison.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 22, 1966 |title=1966 11 22 Gwood Comm Tue p1, Man gets 2 years in Meredith case, Troutt |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-greenwood-commonwealth-1966-11-22-gw/38958107/ |access-date=March 20, 2024 |work=The Greenwood Commonwealth |pages=1}}</ref>

Meredith suffered from superficial wounds to his neck, legs, head, and right side.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Shooting — and the Civil Rights Movement Changes Course |url=https://www.americanheritage.com/content/shooting-and-civil-rights-movement-changes-course |website=www.americanheritage.com |access-date=30 September 2024}}</ref> He recovered from his wounds, and rejoined the march before it reached Jackson on June 26, when 15,000 marchers entered the city in what had become the largest civil rights march in state history. During the march, more than 4,000 black Mississippians registered to vote. Continued community organizing was catalyzed by these events, and African Americans began to enter the political system again.<ref>{{cite web| title = Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Movement| work = pbs.org| url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/profiles/56_ms.html| archive-url = https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20070308224300/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/profiles/56_ms.html| url-status = dead| archive-date = March 8, 2007| access-date = October 18, 2011}}</ref>

==Political career==
In 1967, while living and studying in New York, Meredith decided to run as a [[New York Republican State Committee|Republican]] against incumbent [[Adam Clayton Powell Jr.]], a multi-term [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]], in a special election for the Congressional seat in Harlem. He withdrew from the race and Powell was re-elected.<ref name="Jet">{{cite news |title=Meredith Makes Bid For U.S. Senate in Mississippi |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ckQDAAAAMBAJ&q=Meredith+Makes+Bid+For+U.S.+Senate+in+Mississippi&pg=PA28 |work=[[Jet (magazine)|Jet]] |date=March 2, 1972|publisher= Johnson Publishing Company}}</ref> Meredith said later of his campaign, "The Republican Party [of New York] made me an offer: full support in every way, everything." He had full access to top New York Republicans.<ref>{{cite book |title=The King of the Cats: The Life and Times of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. |last=Haygood |first=Wil |year=2006 |publisher=HarperCollins |page=363 }}</ref>

After returning to Mississippi in 1972, Meredith entered the Republican primary for the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] seat of Democrat [[James Eastland]], who had been the incumbent for 29 years in what had operated as a one-party state. Following provisions of a new [[Constitution of Mississippi#History|state constitution in 1890]] that made voter registration extremely difficult, African Americans had been effectively [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchised]] and the Republican Party had been crippled.<ref>{{cite book |title=Mississippi Politics: The Struggle for Power, 1976–2008 |last=Nash |first=Jere |author2=Andy Taggart and John Grisham |year=2009 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |page=51 }}</ref> Meredith conceded that he had little chance of winning unless Governor [[George Wallace]] of Alabama entered the presidential race and split the white vote.<ref name="Jet"/> As it happened, many Republicans in Mississippi were not enthusiastic about the prospect of Meredith as their nominee, and [[Gil Carmichael]], a businessman from [[Meridian, Mississippi|Meridian]], was recruited to run against him.<ref>''The Almanac of American Politics 1978'', p. 457.</ref> Meredith received only 21% of the primary vote against Carmichael.<ref>''Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections'', 2nd ed. (1985), p. 1096.</ref>

An active Republican, Meredith served from 1989 to 1991 as a domestic adviser on the staff of [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] [[Jesse Helms]]. Faced with criticism from the civil rights community for working for the avowed segregationist, Meredith said that he had applied to every member of the Senate and House offering his services, and only Helms' office responded. He also wanted a chance to do research at the [[Library of Congress]].<ref name="Byrd"/>

In 2002, officials at the University of Mississippi celebrated the 40th anniversary of Meredith's historic admission and integration of the institution with a year-long series of events. Of the celebration, Meredith said,

<blockquote>It was an embarrassment for me to be there, and for somebody to celebrate it, oh my God. I want to go down in history, and have a bunch of things named after me, but believe me that ain't it.<ref name="Byrd">{{cite news | first= Shelia | last= Hardwell Byrd | title= Meredith ready to move on | agency= Associated Press, at Athens Banner-Herald (OnlineAthens) | url= http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/092102/new_20020921041.shtml | date= 21 September 2002 | access-date= 2007-10-02 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071016065534/http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/092102/new_20020921041.shtml | archive-date= 16 October 2007 | url-status= dead }}</ref></blockquote>

He said he had achieved his main goal at the time by getting the federal government to enforce his rights as a citizen. He saw his actions as "an assault on [[white supremacy]]".<ref name="Byrd"/> In 2003, he was far more proud that his son Joseph Meredith graduated as the top doctoral student at the university's graduate business school.<ref name="Byrd"/>

==Legacy and honors==
[[File:Meredith and wife loc.jpg|thumb|Meredith and Judy Alsobrooks in 1982]]
[[File:James Meredith in 2010.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Meredith in 2010]]
*In 2002, the University of Mississippi honored the 40th anniversary of Meredith's admission with numerous events.
*In 2006, a [[Statue of James Meredith|statue of him]] was dedicated on campus in his honor.
*In 2012, the University commemorated the 50th anniversary of the historic admission, featuring a range of speakers, artists, lectures and events during the year.
*That year Meredith received the [[Harvard Graduate School of Education]] 'Medal for Education Impact' and was the school's convocation speaker. Meredith said it was the first award in 50 years he had accepted.<ref>{{cite web|last=Anderson|first=Jill|title=James Meredith to Speak at Convocation|url=http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news-impact/2013/04/james-meredith-to-receive-medal-for-education-impact/|publisher=Harvard Ed School|access-date=May 12, 2014|archive-date=May 31, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531035627/https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news-impact/2013/04/james-meredith-to-receive-medal-for-education-impact/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Cultural depictions==
In 2011 miniseries ''[[The Kennedys (miniseries)|The Kennedys]]'', Meredith was portrayed by Matthew G. Brown in episode five of the series, ''Life Sentences''.

==Political viewpoint==
A highly independent man, Meredith has identified as an individual American citizen who demanded and received the constitutional rights held by any American, not as a participant in the [[Civil Rights Movement]]. There have been tensions between him and leaders of major organizations of the movement. When interviewed in 2002, the 40th anniversary of his enrollment at University of Mississippi, Meredith said, "Nothing could be more insulting to me than the concept of civil rights. It means perpetual second-class citizenship for me and my kind."<ref name="Byrd"/><ref>{{cite web | title = A Shooting – And the Civil Rights Movement Changes Course | work = American Heritage | url = http://americanheritage.com/articles/web/20060606-james-meredith-education-ole-miss-columbia-segregation-martin-luther-king-black-power-march_print.shtml |date=June 6, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109174610/http://americanheritage.com/articles/web/20060606-james-meredith-education-ole-miss-columbia-segregation-martin-luther-king-black-power-march.shtml |archive-date=January 9, 2009 |author=Christine Gibson}}</ref>

Meredith was a supporter of the unsuccessful 1967 gubernatorial bid of ex-[[Mississippi]] Governor (and avowed [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregationist]]) [[Ross Barnett]], who had been responsible for Meredith's not being allowed at the University of Mississippi, as well as the [[1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election|1991 gubernatorial]] campaign of [[Louisiana House of Representatives|Louisiana State Representative]] and ex-[[Ku Klux Klan|Klansman]] [[David Duke]].<ref>{{cite web | title = James Meredith, still a loner, still on a mission, 50 years later | work = Facing South | url = http://www.southernstudies.org/2012/10/james-meredith-still-a-loner-still-on-a-mission-50-years-later.html | date = October 1, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170814173615/https://www.facingsouth.org/2012/10/james-meredith-still-a-loner-still-on-a-mission-50-years-later.html |archive-date=August 14, 2017 | author=Joe Atkins}}</ref> On these endorsements, Meredith wrote “I prefer bigotry to be out in the open where I can confront it."<ref name=":4" /> 

In a 2002 interview with [[CNN]], Meredith said of his efforts to integrate Ole Miss, "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."<ref>{{cite news | title = Mississippi and Meredith remember | work = CNN | url = http://edition.cnn.com/2002/US/South/09/30/meredith/index.html | access-date = October 2, 2007 | date=September 29, 2002}}</ref>

==Personal life==
On March 14, 1956, Meredith married Mary June Wiggins.<ref>Meredith Coleman McGee, ''James Meredith: Warrior and the America That Created Him'' (ABC-CLIO, 2013):125.</ref> She later worked as a high school English teacher.<ref>Michael T. Johnson, [http://michaeltalj.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/in-honor-of-martin-luther-king-day/ "Of Dr. King and Mrs. Meredith: A Tribute in Honor of Dr. King"], (January 16, 2012).</ref><ref>Meredith C. McGee, [www.meredithetc.biz/downloads/James%20Meredith's%20Biography.rtf "James Meredith's Biography"].</ref> They had three sons, James, John and Joseph Howard Meredith.  Mary June Meredith died of heart failure in December 1979.

In 1982, Meredith married Judy Alsobrooks in Gary, Indiana.<ref>Meredith Coleman McGee, ''James Meredith: Warrior and the America That Created Him'' (ABC-CLIO, 2013):124–125.</ref><ref>Meredith C. McGee,[www.meredithetc.biz/downloads/James%20Meredith's%20Biography.rtf "James Meredith's Biography"].</ref> She had one son, Kip Naylor, from a previous marriage. Jessica Howard Meredith was born to the couple.<ref>Meredith Coleman McGee, ''James Meredith: Warrior and the America That Created Him'' (ABC-CLIO, 2013):174.</ref>  The couple live in [[Jackson, Mississippi]].<ref>{{cite news | title = James Meredith, Central Figure In Ole Miss Integration, Reflects On 50th Anniversary, Resents 'Civil Rights' Moniker (photos)| work= Huffington Post | url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/01/james-meredith-ole-miss-integration_n_1929306.html | date=October 1, 2012}}</ref>

==Works==
* In 1966, his memoir, ''Three Years in Mississippi,'' was published by the [[Indiana University Press]].
* He has [[self-publishing|self-published]] several books on politics and society.

==See also==
* [[List of African-American pioneers in desegregation of higher education]]
* [[List of civil rights leaders]]
* [[School integration in the United States]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book | last=Branch | first=Taylor | title=Parting the Waters : America in the King Years, 1954–63 | publisher=Simon and Schuster | location=New York | year=1988 | isbn=978-0-671-68742-7 | url=https://archive.org/details/partingwatersame00bran_0 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Meredith |first=James |title=Three Years in Mississippi |year=1966 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington }} {{ISBN?}}
* {{Cite book |last=Meredith |first=James |title=Mississippi: A Volume of Eleven Books |year=1995 |publisher=Meredith Publishing |location=Jackson, MS }} {{ISBN?}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite journal |last=Bryant |first=Nick |date=Autumn 2006 |title=Black Man Who Was Crazy Enough to Apply to Ole Miss |journal=The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education |issue=53 |pages=60–71 |jstor=25073538}}
* {{Cite book |last=Doyle |first=William |year=2001 |title=An American Insurrection: The Battle of Oxford, Mississippi, 1962 |url=https://archive.org/details/americaninsurrec00doyl |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=0-385-49969-8 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Eagles |first=Charles W. |year=2009 |title=The Price of Defiance: James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss |url=https://archive.org/details/priceofdefiancej00eagl |url-access=registration |location=Chapel Hill, NC |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0807895597 }}
* Goudsouzian, Aram (2014). ''Down to the Crossroads: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Meredith March Against Fear''. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. {{ISBN?}}
* Hollingsworth, Bradley S. (2020). [https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD1159116.pdf "About an Oath: The Mississippi National Guard at the Battle of Ole Miss"]. US Army School for Advanced Military Studies.
* Irons, Jenny (2010). [https://books.google.com/books?id=0I5mA3Ui6ZQC&dq=Barnett&pg=PP1  ''Reconstituting Whiteness: The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission'']. Vanderbilt University Press.
* {{Cite book |last=Hendrickson |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Hendrickson |title=Sons of Mississippi |year=2003 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |isbn=0-375-40461-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/sonsofmississipp00paul }} Contains revealing interviews with Meredith conducted by the author.
* King, Desmond, and Robert C. Lieberman (2021).[https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c7cb2e1a-0831-4fe0-aa04-6b0315dc494a/download_file?safe_filename=King_and_Lieberman_2020_Latter_day_General.pdf&file_format=pdf&type_of_work=Journal+article {{"'}}The Latter-Day General Grant': Forceful Federal Power and Civil Rights"].  ''Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics'' 6.3: 529–564.
* McGee, Meredith Coleman (2013). [https://archive.org/details/jamesmeredithwar0000mcge ''James Meredith: Warrior and the America That Created Him'']. ABC-CLIO. {{ISBN|978-0999322673}}. {{OCLC|844940027}}.
* {{Cite book |last=Schlesinger |first=Arthur Jr. |year=2002 |orig-year=1978 |title=Robert Kennedy and His Times |url=https://archive.org/details/robertkennedyhis01schl |url-access=registration |publisher=First Mariner Books |location=New York |isbn=0-618-21928-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Stanton |first=Mary |year=2003 |title=Freedom Walk: Mississippi or Bust |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578065059 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |location=Jackson |isbn=1-57806-505-4 }}
* Watkins, James H. (Spring 2016). {{"'}}Returning to Mississippi by Choice' Autobiographical Self-Location and the Performance of Black Masculinity in James Meredith's Three Years in Mississippi". ''The Mississippi Quarterly'' 69.2: 253–276. {{JSTOR|26483824}}.

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://web.archive.org/*/http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/meredith_james/ University of Mississippi biography] (Archive)
* [http://purl.oclc.org/umarchives/MUM00293/ James Meredith Collection (MUM00293)], University of Mississippi, Archives and Special Collections.
* [http://purl.oclc.org/umarchives/MUM00594/ James Meredith Small Manuscripts (MUM00594)], University of Mississippi.]
* [http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/South/09/30/meredith/index.html "Mississippi and Meredith remember"], September 30, 2002, CNN
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071016065534/http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/092102/new_20020921041.shtml Associated Press: "Meredith ready to move on"]
* [https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/1/newsid_2538000/2538169.stm "On this day in History: 1 October 1962"], BBC
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050914024625/http://www.jfklibrary.org/meredith/jm.html Facsimiles of letters to the Justice Department and Thurgood Marshall], Kennedy Library
* [https://research.archives.gov/description/193216 James Meredith's Letter to the Justice Department February 7, 1961, 02/07/1961] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006075746/http://research.archives.gov/description/193216 |date=October 6, 2014 }}, National Archives
* [http://www.visionaryproject.org/meredithjames James Meredith's oral history video excerpts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109071948/http://www.visionaryproject.org/meredithjames |date=January 9, 2009 }}, The National Visionary Leadership Project
* {{C-SPAN|6595}}

{{Civil rights movement}}{{Portal bar|Mississippi|Biography|United States}}{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meredith, James}}
[[Category:1933 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:African-American United States Air Force personnel]]
[[Category:Columbia Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Education segregation in Mississippi]]
[[Category:Jackson State University alumni]]
[[Category:Ku Klux Klan crimes in Mississippi]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Mississippi]]
[[Category:Mississippi Republicans]]
[[Category:New York (state) Republicans]]
[[Category:People from Kosciusko, Mississippi]]
[[Category:Racially motivated violence against African Americans in Mississippi]]
[[Category:School desegregation pioneers]]
[[Category:American civil rights activists]]
[[Category:African-American civil rights activists]]
[[Category:American anti-racism activists]]
[[Category:University of Mississippi alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Jackson, Mississippi]]
[[Category:21st-century African-American people]]
[[Category:University of Ibadan alumni]]