At Memorial Rally: James H. Meredith (left), the first black man to enroll in the University of Mississippi, sits with Myrlie Evers, widow of Civil Rights and NAACP leader Medgar Evers, and Evers' brother Charles Evers, in Jackson, Mississippi.

James Howard Meredith (born June 25, 1933) is a trailblazer in the Civil Rights Movement. In 1962, he became the first black student admitted to the University of Mississippi, following an intense legal battle in the federal courts. In 1966, Meredith planned a solo 220-mile March Against Fear from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi to highlight continuing racism in the South and encourage voter registration after passage of the Voting Rights Act. The second day, he was shot by a white gunman and suffered numerous wounds. Leaders of major organizations vowed to complete the march in his name after he was taken to the hospital. During his recovery, more people from across the country became involved as marchers. Meredith rejoined the march. When he and other leaders entered Jackson on June 26, they were leading an estimated 15,000 marchers in what was the largest Civil Rights march in Mississippi.

Medgar Wiley Evers (July 2, 1925 – June 12, 1963) was an black Civil Rights activist in Mississippi and the state's field secretary of the NAACP. He was a World War II veteran, having served in the United States Army. Evers worked to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi, to end segregation in public facilities, and to expand opportunities for blacks, including enforcement of voting rights. He was assassinated by Byron De La Beckwith, Jr., a white supremacist Klansman.

Associated Press ID #6308160123

On recto: typewritten title and date.

Wire photographs were originally transmitted over phonelines, then later, by satellite. They were first used in the early 1920s. Associated Press became a leader with this. After pigment touch-ups, etc., the print is put into a drum (like a drum scanner). The image gets converted into audio tones that are transmitted. The tones are received and beamed onto photo-sensitive paper. Wire photographs are copies without originals---they are hybrid, transmitted objects. (Britt Salvesen, Curator and Department Head, Photography Department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, March 30-31, 2022)

This object has the following keywords:

• Assassinations
• Broken barriers
• Charles Evers
• Charles Evers
• Civil Rights Movements
• Desegregation
• Education
• Hate
• Hate crimes
• Injustice
• James Meredith
• James Meredith
• Memorials
• Myrlie Evers-Wiliams
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
• Oxford
• Racial Discrimination
• Students
• University of Mississippi
• Widows

• Image Dimensions: 5 5/8 x 7 15/16 in. (14.29 x 20.16 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen
• Sheet Dimensions: 6 1/2 x 8 7/16 in. (16.51 x 21.43 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen