James Meredith, the man who integrated the University of Mississippi in 1962 with the help of federal marshals, will be inducted into the school’s Alumni Hall of Fame along with six others during this year’s homecoming events in October.
Meredith sued to gain admission as the first Black student at Ole Miss and, due to fierce opposition from state officials and violence from the public, was escorted to and from his classes by federal law-enforcement officers.
After graduating, Meredith was shot down on June 6, 1966 while making a lone “March Against Fear” to encourage Blacks to exercise their voting rights. He wanted to show that a Black man could safely walk through Mississippi.
On the second day, a sniper proved just the opposite, as photos of the wounded Meredith lying on the road hit the national news media. He was planning to walk 200 miles from Memphis, Tenn. to the Mississippi state capital of Jackson. Civil rights leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., completed the effort on his behalf.
Meredith, now 85, lives in Jackson with his wife, Judy Alsobrooks Meredith. He told Diverse in a recent interview that when university officials informed him that he was being considered for induction into the Hall of Fame, he was stunned.
“I thought they must have been out of their minds – that’s how it sounded to me,” he said, explaining that after he graduated Ole Miss, he was not a cheerleader for the institution. “I declared war on White supremacy, and Ole Miss was the highest order of White supremacy. . . So when they said they were giving me an award, I saw it as surrender — the same as when the Japanese surrendered,” he said, laughing heartily.
But to many in the state and throughout the South, Meredith has been an enigmatic figure among the numerous activists involved in the civil rights movement. While he is revered for his role in the fight against segregation, he has been bitterly criticized for working in the 1980s as an adviser to Republican North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms, an outspoken opponent of racial equality.
