On 5 June 1966, James Meredith began a 220-mile march from Memphis, TN to Jackson, MS.
The 32-year-old Meredith, who had integrated the University of Mississippi four years
earlier, organized the one-man march to encourage African Americans in
Mississippi to register to vote and overcome a fear of violence.When he crossed into Mississippi on the morning of 6 June, Meredith was shot 3 times by a sniper, and hit in his head, neck, back and legs . His assailant, an unemployed member of the Ku Klux Klan from Jackson, MS, was quickly apprehended by police. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison (he served 18 months).
As Meredith recuperated from his wounds,
people gathered in his hospital room in Hernando, MS to resume what was now called the
“Meredith March.” Led by Martin Luther King, Jr., Stokely Carmichael and Floyd McKissick, the marchers
walked for nearly three weeks, helping to register thousands of
African-American voters along the way.Meredith himself rejoined the
pilgrimage on its final day, June 26, as more than 12,000
protesters entered Jackson surrounded by cheering crowds.