Contact: Sammy McDavid
Civil rights pioneer James Meredith of Jackson will speak Wednesday [Oct. 10] at Mississippi State University.
Open to all, the 7 p.m. program in the Colvard Union ballroom is sponsored by the MSU Campus Activities Board and University Honors Program. Meredith will share his perspectives on the state's past, present and future.
An Attala County native who had attended then-Jackson State College, he became the first African-American to enroll at the University of Mississippi in September of 1962. To secure his attendance, President John F. Kennedy sent thousands of armed federal marshals and military troops to overcome considerable efforts by state officials and others who wished to maintain a segregated higher education system.
A newly published account of the struggle to enroll Meredith is found in historian William Doyle's "An American Insurrection: The Battle of Oxford, Mississippi, 1962" (Doubleday).
For additional information on the program, telephone Paula Raffo or Jordan Rinehart at (662) 325-2930.