How Did James Meredith Attempt To Leverage The University Of Mississippi?

James Meredith attempted attempted to integrate Ole Miss in 1962 and ignited riots. On September 30, 1962, riots erupted on the campus of the University of Mississippi. The decision to integrate Ole Miss was James Meredith's alone. Why James Meredith fought to integrate the University of Mississipi. How much should the traditional-state based system be disrupted to aid blacks? After high school, Meredith spent nine years in the United States Air Force before enrolling in Jackson State College—an all-black school—in Mississippi. James Meredith served in the Air Force from 1951 to 1960. Meredith attended Jackson State University for two years, 1960-1962. In 1961, he started to apply to the University of Mississippi. He was twice denied admission.

Board of Education, 1954 that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. He was initially accepted, but his admission was later withdrawn when the registrar discovered his race. Since all public educational institutions had been ordered to desegregate by this time (following 1954's Brown v. Board of Education ruling), Meredith filed a suit alleging discrimination. 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