On this day in 1966, civil rights activist James Meredith was shot while leading the March Against Fear from Memphis to Jackson, Mississippi. Meredith later rejoined the march which registered several thousand people to vote.
In 1961 supported by the NAACP, he filed suit against the state of Mississippi for refusing admission to the University of Mississippi and became the first African American admitted. Meredith became a Republican and worked for a time for Jesse Helms.
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