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The Meredith Mississippi March-June
1966 
Browse photos of the 1966 Meredith March. Read
other partipants' accounts of the Meredith March.
 The
Meredith Mississippi March took its name from James
Meredith, who became the first black student to attend the University
of Mississippi in 1962, after a ruling by federal courts that he could
not be denied admission. On June 5, 1966, Meredith, now a Columbia University
law student, and a few companions, began a walk from Memphis, Tenn. to
Jackson, Miss. to encourage African Americans to register and vote. He
called it a "march against fear." On June 6 he was wounded with
a shotgun blast.
The
next day, leaders of the major civil rights organizations, Dr.
Martin Luther King of the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership
Conference), Floyd McKissick of CORE (Congress of Racial Equality)
and Stokely Carmichael of SNCC (Student Non-Violent Co-ordinating
Committee), announced that they would resume his march, and invited
freedom-loving people from all over the country to join them.
For
almost three weeks, between a couple hundred and a couple thousand
people walked the 220 miles to the state capitol, camping out
at night under rented circus tents. Local people fed the marchers
on the way. After asking that federal registrars be sent to Mississippi,
civil rights leaders took groups of marchers to nearby towns
to canvass, rally and bring local African Americans to be registered.
The Dept. of Justice later estimated that between 2,500 and 3,000
black Mississippians were registered to vote during the march.
Well
guarded by the Mississippi Highway Patrol, the marchers were
not attacked on their main route, but some were assaulted on
the side trips.
The
March concluded on June 26 with a rally of 15,000 people in Jackson,
while over a thousand officers in the Mississippi Highway Patrol,
National Guard, and local law enforcement agencies guarded the
capital building.
Another participant in the Meredith March remembers
Photos of The Meredith Mississippi
March by Jo Freeman
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Please click on thumbnails to view the complete
image
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Marchers line up to resume walking after
a lunchbreak.
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As the day ends, marchers leave the highway
to go to their campgrounds for the evening.
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Almost every Mississippi town has a Confederate
monument, usually in the town square. When marchers gathered
around this momument in Grenada one stuck an American flag
into the medallion portraying Jefferson Davis. It was removed
by locals after the marchers left. Bob Green of SCLC is speaking,
while Big Lester eyes the crowd.
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Another county seat, another Civil War monument,
another rally. Hosea Williams, director of Southern projects
for SCLC, addresses the crowd. Floyd McKissick of CORE stands
behind him.
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Irritated by the marchers takeover of the
local Civil War monuments, Mississippi officials surrounded
this one with prisoners from Parchman Penitentiary. The rally
in this town was held on the courthouse steps.
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March participants watch a rally on the courthouse
steps.
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One young man remembers Jimmy Lee Jackson,
who was killed in February 1965 in Alabama while demonstrating
for voter registration.
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During the March, local Mississippians registered
to vote for the first time.
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Representatives of Health and Hospital workers,
Local 1199, New York City.
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Waiting for something to happen.
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Some good ole boys give their opinion of
the marchers.
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Dr. King speaks to the marchers under the
circus tent.
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The marchers arrive in Jackson, Mississippi
for the last rally of the march.
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The Mississippi Highway Patrol keeps the
marchers away from the Capitol building in Jackson.
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James Meredith addresses the rally in Jackson,
Mississippi.
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Shoes that marched through Mississippi
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