What Did James Meredith Impact

James Meredith’s Impact

Taking a step into someone elses shoes lets you understand life from their perspective. It doesn’t matter the race you are because either if you’re African American or Caucasian you have different perspectives. Your race shouldn’t define who you are nor your success. James Meredith fought for African American equality rights. Although he faced discrimination and segregation. James Meredith dissent through school segregation was justified because he shed light on the knowledge of inequality and segregation that African Americans suffered.

James Meredith was from Kosciusko, Mississippi. Born June 25, 1933. James was one out of ten children and raised by Roxy Patterson Meredith and Moses Cap and he was a poor

James had his sight set on The University of Mississippi. He knew he couldn't pay for college so he volunteered in the Air Force for nine years after high school and later became a sergeant. In 1960 he returned from the Air Force wanting to to go to Ole Miss (University of Mississippi). Meredith knew no African American has been accepted to Ole Miss and it was his mission to attend. After James Meredith applied repeatedly and qualified, Ole Miss denied him repeatedly. When John F. Kennedy became president, James thought it was time to bring the civil rights movement to Mississippi. James hoped that applying to the University of Mississippi would have an effect of stopping segregation in the

James Meredith had an effect on African Americans in the south because of his courage and determination through the civil rights movement. “The fifteenth amendment to the Constitution granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."” (Banfield). The fifteenth amendment was ignored for about 100 years from when is was stated. The March Against Fear made the amendment valid again; especially in the south. After the march the right for African Americans to vote in the south was becoming possible for them. Later, August 6,1965. The president signed a law, Voting Rights Act of 1965, stating the southern states must stop their practice of discrimination and not allowing African Americans to vote. James Meredith’s March Against Fear affected the present and future non-segregation between blacks and