U of Mississippi Freedom Trail Plaque, Photograph

Full Title:

University of Mississippi Freedom Trail Plaque

Excerpt:

On October 1, 1962, James Meredith broke the rigid segregation in Mississippi’s higher education when he became the first African American student at the University of Mississippi. Though federal courts had ordered his admission, Governor Ross Barnett and other state leaders stood in defiant opposition. The evening before Meredith enrolled, President John F. Kennedy deployed to the campus, the US Army and federalized National Guard to quell rioting segregationists. The following day agents of the US Department of Justice escorted Meredith to the Lyceum Building, where he registered. He graduated in August of 1963. 

Source Citation:

University of Mississippi. 2011. Freedom Trail Plaque. Photograph.