American Historical Ephemera & Photography, including African Americana

Headquarters, XVIII Airborne Corps. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 in. partially printed pass granting permission to Sue K. Rushing, a "Bona Fide Resident of Oxford, Miss.,...to pass freely throughout Oxford City area including the University of Mississippi." Issued 4 October 1962, with expiration date of 14 October 1962, inscribed "Occupied - Meredith Enroll," and signed by Lloyd L. McDaniel, Provost Marshal. The pass was issued in the midst of the Ole Miss riot, which took place between late September and early October 1962 in response to James Meredith being admitted to the University of Mississippi.

James Meredith (b. 1933) applied for admission to the University of Mississippi in January of 1961 after returning from service in the US Air Force from 1951-1960. The University had only admitted white students up until that point, and Meredith sought to be the first African American student to enroll, testing his civil rights in a long-established culture of racial segregation. The university sent Meredith a telegram denying him admission, his responses to which went unanswered, prompting Meredith to file a lawsuit against the university, aided by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Though the Supreme Court ruled in Meredith's favor, his enrollment caused the town of Oxford, MS, to erupt in violent protests, prompting President Kennedy to send 300 federal marshals to protect Meredith and the University. When the bloody riots began to overwhelm the small force, Kennedy activated the Mississippi National Guard and called in Army troops from Memphis, TN, to manage the roughly 30,000 white students and local protesters, including many Klansmen. Two days later, the riots were quelled and marshals escorted Meredith to his first class, American History. In the end, two people were killed and hundreds injured, including about one third of the marshals.

Meredith graduated with a bachelor's degree in August 1963, and attended Columbia Law School thereafter. He went on to lead the 1966 "March Against Fear" from Memphis to Jackson, which began on 6 June. On 7 June, Meredith was shot and wounded by a white gunman, forcing him to leave the march temporarily. Upon his return as the march reached Jackson, he spoke at the Mississippi State Capitol. He participated in politics as a member of the Republican Party, twice running for Congress unsuccessfully, but serving as a domestic adviser to US Senator Jesse Helms from 1989-1991.