caption birth_place name birth_date known_for image article_title education birth_name
james meredith in 1962 kosciusko , mississippi james meredith 25 june 1933 becoming mississippi the first black student at the university of james_meredith . jpg james meredith
 university . of mississippi ; columbia law school , ll.b james howard meredith
james meredith

james howard meredith -lrb- born june 25 , 1933 -rrb- is an american civil rights movement figure , writer , political adviser and air force veteran .
in 1962 , he became the first african-american student admitted to the segregated university of mississippi , after the intervention of the federal government , an event that was a flashpoint in the african american civil rights movement .
inspired by president john f. kennedy 's inaugural address , meredith decided to exercise his constitutional rights and apply to the university of mississippi .
his goal was to put pressure on the kennedy administration to enforce civil rights for african americans .
in 1966 meredith planned a solo 220-mile 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 course of it , more than 4,000 african americans had registered to vote , and the march 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 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 .
