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James Meredith March
In June 1966, Jackson was also the terminus of the James Meredith March or the March Against Fear, organized by James Meredith, the first African-American to enroll amongst violent protest at the University of Mississippi on October 1, 1962. The march, which began in Memphis, Tennessee, was an attempt to garner support for the Civil Rights movement and was accompanied by a drive to register African-Americans to vote in Mississippi. In this latter aim, it succeeded in registering between 2,500 and 3,000 black Mississippians to vote. The march ended on June 26 after Meredith, who had been wounded by a sniper’s bullet earlier on the march, addressed a large rally of some 15,000 people in Jackson.
