Editing James Meredith (section)

==Early life and education==
Meredith was born in 1933 in [[Kosciusko, Mississippi]], the son of Roxie (Patterson) and Moses Meredith.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/historians-miscellaneous-biographies/james-howard-meredith|title=James Howard Meredith|website=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref> He is of [[African-American]], [[English Canadians|English Canadian]], [[Scottish people|Scots]] and [[Choctaw]] heritage.<ref name="mcgee"/> His family nickname was "J-Boy".<ref name="mcgee">Meredith Coleman McGee. (2013) ''James Meredith: Warrior and the America That Created Him.'' Santa Barbara, California: Praeger, p. 15. Note: In her biography of him, his niece, Meredith Coleman McGee describes his ancestry as "a Negro of Choctaw descent," p. 133, and provides extensive genealogical material in the Appendix: "Family Tree of James Howard Meredith"</ref> European traders intermarried with some Choctaw during the colonial period. In the 1830s, thousands of Choctaw chose to stay in Mississippi and become United States citizens when most of the tribe left their traditional homeland for [[Indian Territory]] during the federally imposed [[Indian Removal|removal]]. Those in the state had unions with European Americans and African Americans (some of whom were enslaved), adding to the multi-racial population in the developing territory.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Wells|editor1-first=Samuel J.|editor2-last=Tubby|editor2-first=Roseanna|title=After Removal: The Choctaw in Mississippi|date=1986|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|location=Jackson|isbn=978-0878052899|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B5H_xoAOUhsC|access-date=February 3, 2018}}</ref>

Meredith completed 11th grade at Attala County Training School (which was segregated as "white" and "colored" under the state's [[Jim Crow]] laws) and completed 12th grade at [[Gibbs High School (St. Petersburg, Florida)|Gibbs High School]] in St. Petersburg, Florida.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cardon |first1=Dustin |title=James Meredith |url=http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/may/08/james-meredith/ |website=Jackson Free Press |publisher=Jackson Free Press, Inc. |access-date=May 27, 2019}}</ref> He graduated from high school in 1951. Then, Meredith enlisted in the [[United States Air Force]]. He served from 1951 to 1960.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Gale|first1=Thomson|title=James Howard Meredith|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/historians-miscellaneous-biographies/james-howard-meredith|website=Encyclopedia.com|access-date=November 7, 2016}}</ref>

Afterward Meredith attended [[Jackson State University]] for two years, achieving good grades.