jan 31, 1961 - James Meredith

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James Meredith, a 29-year-old former Air Force man, embarked on an arduous legal campaign to become the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi in its 114-year history. Furious that the new president John F. Kennedy failed to mention civil rights in his inaugural address, Meredith immediately sent off for an application form to the university with the hope, as he later explained, that it would "put pressure on John Kennedy and the Kennedy administration to live up to the civil rights plank in the Democratic platform."

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