James Meredith's Struggle For Equal Education

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Any one person who can affect an entire generation of people has to be considered a legend. James Meredith did just that. During his early life, he focused on his education and how he could expand it. As he got older, he started to realize how much segregation affected educational rights for African Americans. This encouraged James to lead a March Against Fear, which was an act of standing up for his thoughts on equal education. James Meredith made an impact on thousands of people throughout his life by leading a march to support African American’s rights for equal education, being the first African American to attend college, and winning a court battle against the governor of Mississippi.
James Howard Meredith was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi on June 25, 1933. He was brought up on a farm along with nine siblings. While riding a train from Chicago to Memphis he was ordered to give up his seat and move to the back of the train. Growing up, his family avoided racism; therefore, this experience confused James. This experience on the train is one of the several reasons that James wanted to stop segregation. Following high school James joined …show more content…

The march was to push for equal education between races. There were supporters and enemies of the March. On June 6, a sniper shot James during the march. While James was recovering, important Civil Rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael, took control of the March. After recovering from the shooting, James joined the march again. Without the help of Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael, the march may have not gotten as much publicity as it did. After marching for twenty days, the March Against Freedom reached Jackson, Mississippi on June 26. James’ march left the thought of “we need to fix the problem of unequal education, and make things fair.” After all the years of hard work, James was able to