James Howard Meredith

@ National Portrait Gallery

Description

James Meredith's effort to become the first African American to enroll at the University of Mississippi made national headlines in the fall of 1962. Despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision supporting his admission, Meredith was turned away three times. This photograph by Flip Schulke pictures the confrontation, on the third attempt, between Meredith, accompanied by Chief U.S. Marshall James McShane, and Mississippi's lieutenant governor, Paul Johnson (in fedora). Four days later, with the backing of federal authorities, Meredith was finally permitted to enroll, but not before the campus had been torn by rioting that left more than 160 injured and two dead. Following graduation, Meredith continued his activist crusade, organizing a 220-mile March Against Fear from Memphis to Jackson in 1966 to encourage voter registration.

Type:

Image

Format:

Gelatin Silver Print

Rights:

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

View Original At:

http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=record_ID=npg_NPG.93.95&repo=DPLA