“March Against Fear” in Mississippi Begins; James Meredith Shot and Wounded
James Meredith, who had integrated the University of Mississippi in 1962 amid riots (September 20, 1962; October 1, 1962), launched a march through Mississippi on this day. On the first day he was then shot and wounded.
Other civil rights leaders quickly joined in to continue the march. At this point, the march became known as the “March Against Fear.” In the last days of the march, however, it encountered significant violent opposition from local racists.
It was during this march that SNCC leader Stokely Carmichael first raised the slogan of “Black Power,” on June 16, 1966. The phrase “black power” provoked a huge backlash among white Americans, as many falsely interpreted it as a call for violent action. In fact, Carmichael meant it to refer to political power.
The result of the controversy was that considerable white support for civil rights evaporated and the civil rights movement lost much of its momentum. The controversy hurt SNCC, which had played such an important role in the southern sit-in campaign in the early 1960s. The organization eventually disintegrated amid internal strife and public opposition, in part because of its new leader, H. “Rap” Brown.
Watch Meredith discuss his “March Against Fear”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB_kezlxv2w
Learn more: Meredith McGee, James Meredith: Warrior and the America That Created Him (2013)
Learn about Meredith’ March at the SNCC Digital Gateway here
Read Meredith’s own story: James Meredith, Three Years in Mississippi (1966)
Read a biography of Stokely Carmichael: Peniel E. Joseph, Stokely: A Life (2016)
Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture here