Meredith, James Howard (1933-…), was the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi. He tried to register at the school in the fall of 1962. He was accompanied by federal marshals, but police and other state officials repeatedly barred his entrance. A large protest group that gathered on the campus rioted against Meredith and the marshals. Two people were killed, and 160 were injured. But Meredith succeeded in registering, and federal troops stayed on the campus to protect him until he graduated in 1963.
In 1966, Meredith began a one-man march in the South—called the March Against Fear—to encourage blacks to vote. A sniper shot him in Mississippi, but he recovered, and later completed the march.
Meredith was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, on June 25, 1933. He wrote the book Three Years in Mississippi (1966).
