Editing James Meredith (section)

=== Challenge to the University ===
In 1961, inspired the day before by U.S. President [[John F. Kennedy]], Meredith started to apply to the [[University of Mississippi]], intending to insist on his civil rights to attend the state-funded university.<ref name=Donovan/> It still admitted only [[White American|white]] students under the state's culture of racial segregation, although the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] ruled in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' (1954) that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, as they are supported by all the taxpayers.

Meredith wrote in his application that he wanted admission for his country, race, family, and himself. He said,

<blockquote>Nobody handpicked me...I believed, and believe now, that I have a Divine Responsibility...<ref name="Schlesinger317">Schlesinger 2002, p. 317.</ref> I am familiar with the probable difficulties involved in such a move as I am undertaking and I am fully prepared to pursue it all the way to a degree from the University of Mississippi.</blockquote>

He was twice denied admission.<ref>{{cite web | title = James Meredith | work = Spartacus Educational | url = http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmeredith.htm | access-date = October 2, 2007 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071002172400/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmeredith.htm | archive-date = October 2, 2007 }}</ref> During this time, he was advised by [[Medgar Evers]], who was head of the state chapter of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] ([[NAACP]]).

On May 31, 1961, Meredith, with backing of the [[NAACP]] [[Legal Defense and Educational Fund]], filed suit in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi|U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi]], alleging that the university had rejected him only because of his race, as he had a highly successful record of military service and academic courses. The case went through many hearings, after which the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit]] ruled that Meredith had the right to be admitted to the state school. The state appealed to the [[U.S. Supreme Court]], which supported the ruling of the appeals court.<ref name="Time">{{cite magazine | title = The States: Though the Heavens Fall | magazine = Time | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,829233-5,00.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071014014142/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,829233-5,00.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = October 14, 2007 | access-date = October 3, 2007 | date=October 12, 1962}}</ref>

On September 13, 1962, the District Court entered an injunction directing the members of the Board of Trustees and the officials of the University to register Meredith.<ref name="barnett">''[[United States v. Barnett]]'', {{ussc|376|681|1964}}</ref> The Democratic Governor of Mississippi, [[Ross Barnett]], declared "no school will be integrated in Mississippi while I am your governor".  The state legislature quickly created a plan. They passed a law that denied admission to any person "who has a crime of moral turpitude against him" or who had been convicted of any felony offense or not pardoned. The same day it became law, Meredith was accused and convicted of "false voter registration," [[Trial in absentia|in absentia]], in Jackson County.<ref name=msbusiness>{{cite web
 | url=http://msbusiness.com/2015/12/analysis-book-shows-angles-of-miss-civil-rights-resistance/
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151215064443/http://msbusiness.com/2015/12/analysis-book-shows-angles-of-miss-civil-rights-resistance/
 | url-status=dead
 | archive-date=December 15, 2015
 | title=Opinion – Columns Analysis: Book shows angles of Miss. civil rights resistance
 | author=Emily Wagster Pettus
 | date=December 13, 2015
| access-date=March 22, 2015
}}</ref> The conviction against Meredith was trumped up: Meredith both owned land in northern Mississippi and was registered to vote in Jackson, where he lived. "Later the clerk testified that Meredith was qualified to register and vote in Jackson [where he was registered]."<ref name=Donovan>{{cite web
 | url=http://chrestomathy.cofc.edu/documents/vol1/donovan.pdf
 | title=James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss
 | author=Kelley Anne Donovan
 | work=Chrestomathy: Annual Review of Undergraduate Research at the College of Charleston
 |number = Volume 1
|pages = 24–3
 | date=2002
 | access-date=March 22, 2015 }}
</ref>
On September 20, the federal government obtained an injunction against enforcement of this Act and of the two state court decrees that had barred Meredith's registration.<ref name=barnett/> That day Meredith was rebuffed again by Governor Barnett in his efforts to gain admission, though university officials were prepared to admit him.<ref name=barnett/>  On September 25, Meredith attempted to register again, but Governor Barnett blocked Meredith’s entry to the College Board office.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Ole Miss - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |url=https://microsites.jfklibrary.org/olemiss/chronology/ |access-date=June 8, 2024 |website=microsites.jfklibrary.org}}</ref> On September 28, the Court of Appeals, ''en banc'' and after a hearing, found the Governor in civil contempt and ordered that he be [[arrest]]ed and pay a fine of $10,000 for each day that he kept up the refusal, unless he complied by October 2.<ref name=barnett/> On September 29, Lieutenant Governor [[Paul B. Johnson Jr.]] (elected Governor on November 5, 1963) was also found in contempt by a panel of the court, and a similar order was entered against him, with a fine of $5,000 a day.<ref name=barnett/>

Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy]] had a series of phone calls with Governor Barnett between September 27 to October 1.{{sfn | Branch | 1988 | pp=650–669}}<ref>Schlesinger 2002, p. 318.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Days of Confrontation: Telephone Conversations|url=http://microsites.jfklibrary.org/olemiss/confrontation/telephone.html|publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library}}</ref> Barnett reluctantly agreed to let Meredith enroll in the university, but secretly bargained with Kennedy on a plan which would allow him to save face.

Barnett committed to maintain civil order. Robert Kennedy ordered 127 [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshals]] as well as 316 deputized [[United States Border Patrol|U.S. Border Patrol]] and 97 [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]] officers to accompany Meredith during his arrival and registration.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2012/093012.htm|title=U.S. Marshals Mark 50th Anniversary of the Integration of 'Ole Miss'|access-date=April 23, 2020|archive-date=May 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523031013/https://www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2012/093012.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> On September 29, President Kennedy issued a proclamation commanding all persons engaged in the obstruction of the laws and the orders of the courts to "cease and desist therefrom and to disperse and retire peaceably forthwith", citing his authority under {{USC|10|332}}, {{USCSec|10|333}}, and {{USCSec|10|334}} to use the militia or the armed forces to suppress any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.<ref>{{USStat|76|1506}}</ref>{{sfn | Branch | 1988 | p=659}}<ref name=barnett/>