James Meredith Says Jesus Christ is the Answer
As I have mentioned before, Ray and I proofread for one another. He reads these posts before they are published and I read his podcasts before he records them. Ray’s next podcast concerns one of the people we knew and loved while we lived in Mississippi from 1977 to 1985. In the podcast, he mentions James Meredith, the first African American student admitted to the University of Mississippi in Oxford. When Ray and I moved to Oxford, the event had happened only fifteen years before; and we both remember hearing our mentor, Dr. F. Douglas Shields Jr., a University of Mississippi physics professor, talk about the horrible things that happened in Oxford when James Meredith enrolled.
As I read Ray’s podcast, I wondered, “Is James Meredith still alive? What is he doing now?” I found out that he is still alive and living in Jackson, Mississippi, the state capital. In 1962 his mission was to help black Americans gain equal rights with white Americans. Today his mission is to encourage Americans to follow the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule, believing that Jesus Christ is the answer to today’s problems.
James Meredith was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, in 1933, the seventh of 13 children. He grew up on his family’s 84-acre farm in Attala County, Mississippi. Meredith walked four miles to school, being passed every morning by a school bus carrying white children to their segregated school. None of his teachers held a college degree until he left Mississippi to spend his senior year living with an aunt in Florida, where he could get a better education. After graduating from high school in Florida in 1951, Meredith joined the Air Force. In 1956 he was assigned to a post in Japan. Meredith took along his new wife, Mary June Wiggins Meredith. Meredith served in the Air Force for nine years and then returned to Mississippi, where he enrolled in the traditionally black Jackson State University.
In January 1961, Meredith decided to apply for entrance to the segregated University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, and began the application process. The university stalled on admitting him. The NAACP worked on Meredith’s behalf as did the U.S. Department of Justice. On September 10, 1962—over a year and a half after Meredith decided to apply for entrance to Ole Miss—Supreme Court Associate Justice Hugo Black ordered that Meredith be admitted.
In an address on September 13, 1962, Ross Barnett, governor of Mississippi, stated: “I shall do everything in my power to prevent integration in our schools.” On September 20, Meredith made his first attempt to enroll, but Governor Barnett personally blocked him from entering. Though the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a restraining order against the governor on September 25, he again blocked Meredith from registering that day.
Hundreds of opponents to integration gathered in Oxford. On September 29, President John F. Kennedy issued a proclamation calling on the people of Mississippi and its government to “cease and desist” their obstruction and to leave peacefully. On September 30, federal marshals escorted Meredith to his dormitory at Ole Miss.
With Ole Miss fraternity houses for a backdrop,
US Army trucks loaded with steel-helmeted US Marshals
roll across the University of Mississippi campus, September 30, 1962.
Photo by Jerry Huff; courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Governor Ross Barnett on September 30.
Photo by Marion S. Trikosko, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Riots broke out that day.
Rioting on September 30.
Photo by Marion S. Trikosko, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
After the riots on September 30.
Photos by Marion S. Trikosko, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
That same day President Kennedy federalized the Mississippi National Guard and also dispatched U.S. Army troops to nearby Memphis. U.S. Army soldiers arrived at the university’s historic Lyceum Hall on October 1. A U.S. Justice Department attorney escorted Meredith to the Lyceum to register.
James Meredith (center) integrates the University of Mississippi on October 1, 1962.
Photo by Marion S. Trikosko, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Troops in front of the courthouse in downtown Oxford, Mississippi, on October 1, 1962.
Photo by Marion S. Trikosko, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
James Meredith became an official student of the University of Mississippi the following day, October 2, 1962.
Federal marshals, Mississippi National Guardsmen, and U.S. Army soldiers fought against rioting protestors from September 30 to October 2. Three hundred citizens were arrested, 166 federal marshals and 48 soldiers were injured, and two civilians died in the riots.
The military remained in Oxford for ten months.
Troops beside a plane on October 8, 1962.
Photo by Marion S. Trikosko, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Soldiers’ tents beside football stadium on October 9.
Photo by Marion S. Trikosko, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Military police outside Baxter Hall, Meredith’s dormitory on October 9.
Photo by Marion S. Trikosko, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Military jeep escorts a car carrying James Meredith
after he attended a class in the Peabody Building
at the University of Mississippi on October 10, 1962.
Photo by Marion S. Trikosko, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
In August 1963, Meredith graduated from the University of Mississippi with a degree in political science. In 1968 he graduated from Columbia Law School in New York City. James and Mary June Meredith had three sons. Mary June passed away from a heart attack at age 41. Two years later, Meredith married Judy Alsobrooks, who had a son from a previous marriage. James and Judy had one daughter.
James Meredith , September 1982.
Photo by Bernard Gotfryd, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
James Meredith and wife Judy Alsobrooks Meredith, September 1982.
Photo by Bernard Gotfryd, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
In 2018, when Meredith was 85 years old, he gave an interview to The Associated Press. He said that he was on a new mission from God to confront our society’s breakdown of moral character. He said that his mission was to encourage people to live by the Ten Commandments. He encouraged black Christians to focus on teaching and doing right, saying that if they would do that, other Christians would follow. He said that he had been in the “God business” all of his life. He spoke of his mission that included making people aware of their duty to follow the teachings of Jesus.
In June of 2023, James Meredith celebrated his 90th birthday. In the weeks before his birthday, he traveled around Mississippi, again urging people to obey the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule, saying that they should do that to reduce crime. Five days before his birthday, James and his wife Judy were in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to speak at an Air Force base. That day he said, “Jesus Christ is the answer. Jesus Christ is the only answer to our crime problem.”
He’s right.
Jesus said to him,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life;
no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
John 14:6
“And there is salvation in no one else;
for there is no other name under heaven
that has been given among men
by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:19
Speaking in Jackson, Mississippi, on his birthday, he said that older generations should lead the way. He said that it is their job.
He’s right again. Older readers, let’s lead the way.
“Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently,
so that you do not forget the things
which your eyes have seen
and they do not depart from your heart
all the days of your life;
but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.”
Deuteronomy 4:9
Younger readers, make sure you and your children listen to and follow older Christians. Your children are looking to see how you respond to older Christians. If you respect them, your children will, too. It takes humility, and it’s worth it.
Listen to your father who begot you,
And do not despise your mother when she is old.
Proverbs 23:22
Listen to counsel and accept discipline,
That you may be wise the rest of your days.
Proverbs 19:20