During previous years, African Americans had been admitted into white colleges and universities in the South. James Meredith was studying in 1960-1962 and had applied for Ole Miss, but did not get accepted. He was a native Mississippian, he had done all his school, except his senior year, in Mississippi, and he served in the U.S. Air Force for nine years. Meredith and NAACP filed a lawsuit against Ole Miss. After taking the case to the Supreme Court, the case was won by Meredith. Mississippi’s governor and other state officials tried to go against the court’s decision. When Meredith arrived at school he was escorted by federal forces, but he was also blockaded by two thousand protesters. Two people were killed in this incident and others were
