James Meredith Popular Books
James Meredith Biography & Facts
James Howard Meredith (born June 25, 1933) is an American civil rights activist, writer, political adviser, and United States Air Force veteran who became, in 1962, the first African-American student admitted to the racially segregated University of Mississippi after the intervention of the federal government (an event that was a flashpoint in the 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. 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. In 1966, Meredith planned a solo 220-mile (350-kilometer) 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 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. He is of African-American, English Canadian, Scots and Choctaw heritage. His family nickname was "J-Boy". 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 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. 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 in St. Petersburg, Florida. He graduated from high school in 1951. Then, Meredith enlisted in the United States Air Force. He served from 1951 to 1960. Afterward Meredith attended Jackson State University for two years, achieving good grades. University of Mississippi 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. It still admitted only white students under the state's culture of racial segregation, although the U.S. Supreme Court 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, Nobody handpicked me...I believed, and believe now, that I have a Divine Responsibility... 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. He was twice denied admission. 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 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. 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. 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," in absentia, in Jackson County. 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]." 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. That day Meredith was rebuffed again by Governor Barnett in his efforts to gain admission, though university officials were prepared to admit him. On September 28, the Court of Appeals, en banc and after a hearing, found the Governor in civil contempt and ordered that he be arrested and pay a fine of $10,000 for each day that he kept up the refusal, unless he complied by October 2. 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. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy had a series of phone calls with Governor Barnett between September 27 to October 1. Barnett reluctantly agreed to let Meredith enroll in the university, but secretly bargained with Kennedy on a plan which would a.... Discover the James Meredith popular books. Find the top 100 most popular James Meredith books.
Best Seller James Meredith Books of 2024
-
Emerald Fire
Naomi SmartThe thrilling beginning to Naomi Smart's exciting BDSM romance series The Gemstone Trilogy, perfect for fans of E. L. James, Sylvia Day, J. Kenner and Tara Sue Me.Louisa relives th...
-
Dirty Rich - Verbotene Sehnsucht
Lisa Renee Jones & Sonja FehlingEr hat immer die Kontrolle bis sie in sein Leben tritt. Reid Maxwell ist nicht nur einer der besten Unternehmensanwälte, sondern auch einer der begehrtesten Junggesellen New Yorks...
-
Bound by Your Touch
Meredith DuranIn the vein of classic authors like Julia Quinn, Sarah MacLean, and Eloisa James, awardwinning and USA TODAY bestselling author Meredith Duran returns with a bluestocking bent on j...
-
Your Wicked Heart
Meredith DuranA sexy and evocative Regency romance enovella!Jilted overseas and abandoned without a penny, Amanda Thomas is desperate to get home. She’ll do whatever it takes to secure a berth o...
-
Axed
Phil BarkerAxed charts the dramatic decline of the magazine industry in Australia from the millionselling highs of the 1990s to the recent round of mergers, closures and massredundancies...
-
The Price of Defiance
Charles W. EaglesWhen James Meredith enrolled as the first African American student at the University of Mississippi in 1962, the resulting riots produced more casualties than any other clash of th...
-
The Second Time I Saw You
Pippa CroftIf you can't get enough of E. L. James, Sylvia Day and Samantha Young, you'll love this passionate romance. It's the beginning of a new term at Wyckham College, Oxford, and a fres...
-
At Your Pleasure
Meredith DuranIn the vein of classic authors like Julia Quinn, Sarah MacLean, and Eloisa James, awardwinning and USA TODAY bestselling author Meredith Duran is at her very best in this sensual a...
-
Shadowplay
Portia Da CostaPhotographer Christabel is drawn to psychic phenomena and dark liasons. When she is persuaded by her husband to take a holiday at a mysterious mansion house in the country, she for...
-
The Secret of Father Brown
G. K. ChestertonThe fourth collection of Father Brown stories featuring the ingenious amateur detective. Ahead of a new series of the popular BBC adaptation starring Mark Williams, all five of Che...
-
Perfect Touch - Vereinigt
Jessica Clare & Kerstin FrickeAttraktiver Aristokrat verliebt sich in eigenwillige Gamerin wer hätte das gedacht?Wie konnte er nur einen so dämlichen Plan fassen? In seinem Heimatland will man den Adligen Leo ...
-
The Pleasures of Winter
Evie HunterThe Pleasures of Winter is a steamy erotic story of romantic obsession and explosive sexual chemistry for fans of Fifty Shades of Grey and Bared to You . . .When reporter Abbie Mar...
-
Entertaining Mr Stone
Portia Da CostaShe’s a good girl gone bad...When Maria Lewis moves back to her hometown, the quiet life she is looking for is quickly disrupted by the enigmatic presence of her new boss, Robert S...
-
Dirty Rich - Verbotenes Begehren
Lisa Renee Jones & Michaela LinkEine unwiderrufliche Entscheidung. Ein hinterhältiger Betrug. Und eine große Liebe.Grayson Bennett ist Milliardär, Anwalt und bekennender Junggeselle. Ein Mann, der aus der kleinen...
-
Third Time Lucky
Pippa CroftFans of Sylvia Day and E. L. James will love the third and final part of this exciting romance series.'It's Sister Dixon from the Royal Infirmary here. I'm sorry to tell you that C...
-
A Mission from God
James Meredith“I am not a civil rights hero. I am a warrior, and I am on a mission from God.” James Meredith James Meredith engineered two of the most epic events of the American civil rig...
-
The Color of Life
Cara MeredithIn this spiritual memoir, a white woman in an interracial marriage and mixedrace family paints a beautiful path from white privilege toward racial healing, from ignorance toward se...
-
Anonymous Sex
Hillary Jordan & Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan27 Authors. 27 Stories. No Names Attached.A bold collection of stories about sex that leaves you guessing who wrote what.Bestselling novelists Hillary Jordan and Cheryl LuLien Tan ...
-
Black Lace Quickies 9
Various ArtistsQuickies a collection of bestselling short, sexy erotica from Black LaceSome girls strip away more than inhibitions to get what they need ...After work, Laura knows no restraint w...
-
Why We Write About Ourselves
Meredith MaranIn the voices of twenty landmark memoiristsincluding New York Times bestselling authors Cheryl Strayed, Sue Monk Kidd, and Pat Conroya definitive text on the craft of autobiographi...
-
Diamond Ice
Naomi SmartThe thrilling finale in Naomi Smart's exciting BDSM romance series The Gemstone Trilogy, perfect for fans of E. L. James, Sylvia Day, J. Kenner and Tara Sue Me.Upon returning home ...
-
Perfect Touch - Untrennbar
Jessica Clare & Kerstin FrickeDiese Liebesgeschichte beginnt nicht mit einem OneNightStand, sondern mit einem OneNightFlop ...So ein Arsch! Anders kann Greer es nicht ausdrücken. Jahrelang hat sie zu Milliardär...
-
The Pleasures of Summer
Evie HunterThe Pleasures of Summer is a steamy erotic story of romantic obsession and explosive sexual chemistry for fans of Fifty Shades of Grey, The Pleasures of Winter and Sylvia Day's sto...
-
The Pleasures of Spring
Evie HunterAn invitation to the hot and steamy world of bestselling erotica author Evie Hunter...'A BDSM MASTERPIECE' Sunday World'A MUSTREAD IF YOU ENJOYED FIFTY SHADES OF GREY' Irish Daily ...
-
Trailblazer
Dorothy Butler GilliamDorothy Butler Gilliam, whose 50yearcareer as a journalist put her in the forefront of the fight for social justice, offers a comprehensive view of racial relations and the media i...
-
The Pleasures of Autumn
Evie HunterThe Pleasures of Autumn is another hothothot tale of romantic obsession and explosive sexual chemistry from bestelling erotica author Evie Hunter, a novel that fans of Sylvia Day, ...
-
The Accidental Mistress
Portia Da CostaSeduced by a billionaire…After being mistaken for a highclass call girl when they first met, Lizzie now enjoys a fiery relationship with John, her gorgeous and incredibly rich olde...
-
Down to the Crossroads
Aram GoudsouzianIn 1962, James Meredith became a civil rights hero when he enrolled as the first African American student at the University of Mississippi. Four years later, he would make the news...
-
The First Time We Met
Pippa CroftFans of E. L. James, Sylvia Day and Samantha Young will love this sizzling new romance . . . When US Senator's daughter Lauren Cusack arrives at the enchanting Wyckham College of O...
-
Saying It Loud
Mark WhitakerMark Whitaker “writes with the eye of a journalist and ear of a poet” (The Boston Globe) to tell the story of the momentous year that redefined the civil rights movement as a new s...