A federal district court suit was filed today by a Negro veteran…

    PRESS RELEASE 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
10 COLUMB IRCLE + NEW YORK 19,N.Y. © JUdson 6-8397 

Prosident 
THURGOOD MARSHALL 
Director-Counsel 

May 31, 1961 

NEW YORK, -- A federal district court suit was filed today by 

a Negro veteran who seeks to enter the all-white University of 

Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. 

The suit, filed on behalf of James Howard Meredith, of Jackson, 

Miss., is the first legal attack on segregated schools at any level in 

Mississippi. 

Meredith had applied to the University on January 31, 1961. 

After sending seven letters to the Registrar requesting the status of 

his application, he was informed on May 26 that his application was 

denied. 

The suit, filed in the U, S. District Court, Southern District 

of Mississippi, in Jackson, by NAACP Legal Defense and Educational 

Fund attorneys, asks that University officials be enjoined from refus- 

ing to admit Meredith to the Summer Session beginning June 8. 

The complaint charges that (a) Meredith is fully qualified for 

admission, as he was advised on May 9 by the University Registrar 

that he would receive 48 credit hours for previous college work; and 

(b) the requirement for admission of five recommendations from Univer- 

sity alumni is unconstitutional, as all of the alumni are white, and 

"(the requirement] places a burden on Negroes seeking admission... 

which is not shared by white residents..." "In operation and effect 

it bars the admissioa of qualified Negroes to the University of 

Mississippi solely because they are Negroes," the complaint continues. 

Meredith is a twenty-eight year old Air Force veteran who is 

now attending Jackson State College (Negro) in Jackson, Miss., where 

he resides. While in the Air Force, he attended the University of 

Kansas, Washburn University, and the University of Maryland, Far East 

Division. 



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He first applied to the University of Mississippi on January 31, 

1961, for the second semester, 1960-61, but was informed by Registrar 

Robert Ellis that his application was too late. 

He then requested that his application be considered pending and 

submitted five letters of recommendation from members of his community 

certifying his moral character. Meredith, in a separate letter, 

informed the Registrar that he was a Negro. 

After several letters to the Registrar requesting the status of 

his application, Meredith, on April 12, wrote Dean Arthur Lewis of the 

School of Liberal Arts. He advised the Dean of his application, and 

requested assurance that the Registrar's inaction was not due to race. 

Meredith received no reply from Dean Lewis, but on May 9, the 

Registrar acknowledged to Meredith that his application had been 

received, including transcripts from previously attended colleges, and 

that he was accredited with 4° semester hours. He asked if Meredith 

wished his application "to be treated as a pending application." 

Meredith replied immediately that he did, stating that he would 

like to enter the First Term of the Summer Session, which begins 

June 8, 

On May 26, Meredith received a special delivery letter from the 

Registrar advising him that admission was denied because he had 

attended a non-accredited college, and because he did not furnish 

proper recommendations from alumni in his community. The University 

requires that applicants be recommended by at least five alumni who 

live in the applicant's county. 

The suit cites as defendants, Charles Dickson Fair, President 

of the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning; 

Euclid Ray Jobe, Executive Secretary of the Board; James Davis 

Williams, Chancellor of the University; Arthur Beverly Lewis, Dean of 

the College of Liberal Arts; Robert Byron Ellis, Registrar, and twelve 

Board members. 

NAACP Legal Defense Fund atborneys for James Meredith are R. Jess 

Brown of Vicksburg, Miss.; Thurgood Marshall, Constance Baker Motley 

and Derrick Bell, all of the Legal Defense Staff in New York City. 

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