September 20, 1962: Lt Governor Johnson Blocked James Meredith From Enrolling At Ole Miss
by Carletta Denise – September 20, 2016 – BLACK EDUCATION, Black First, BLACK MEN, BLACK POLITICS, BLACKS IN THE MILITARY, CIVIL RIGHTS, DID YOU KNOW, Injustices, JIM CROW, LATEST POSTS, Looking Black On Today, Missing From Textbooks, POLITICS, Racism

Armed with a court order, and escorted by federal marshals, Meredith tried to enter the university on Thursday, September. 20th. He was blocked by mobs and Mississippi Lt Governor Paul Johnson, defying the high court’s ruling.

James Meredith, a 28-year-old married veteran of the Air Force, had studied for two years at Jackson State University. But Meredith wanted a better legal education than the HBCU could offer, and he wanted to get it at Ole Miss.

For 16 months, James Meredith’s case was fought in the courts. Brown v. the Board of Education had come more than 8 years earlier, forbidding “separate but equal” public schools, NO university in the South–the great bastion of segregation–had yet integrated.
After twice being denied admission, with advice from the NAACP, Meredith took his case all the way to the Supreme Court, where he was finally granted the right to attend the all-white university.

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