Early Life and Education
Meredith was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi of Choctaw and African American heritage. Thousands of Choctaw had stayed in Mississippi when most of the people left their traditional homeland for Indian Territory in the removal of the 1830s.
After attending local segregated schools and graduating from high school, Meredith enlisted in the United States Air Force. He served from 1951 to 1960.
He attended Jackson State University for two years, then applied to the University of Mississippi which, under the state's legally imposed racial segregation, had traditionally accepted only white students. In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the US Supreme Court ruled that publicly supported schools had to be desegregated.
Read more about this topic: James Meredith
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