Video: 'James Meredith Shot During March Against Fear'

(Monday, June 6, 1966, 4:15 p.m. CST/6:15 p.m. EDT; during the Civil rights movement) — James Meredith, the African-American who desegregated the University of Mississippi in 1962, was shot in the back today as he walked along United States Highway 51 two miles south of Hernando, Mississippi.

Video: 'James Meredith Shot In Mississippi During Civil-Rights March AKA Meredith Shooting (1966)'

At the time, Meredith was leading the March Against Fear, a 220-mile walk from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi, to counter the continuing racism in the Mississippi Delta after passage of federal civil rights legislation in the previous two years and encourage African Americans to register to vote.

Meredith would recover from his injuries and was able to rejoin the march, which had grown from a small group of supporters to 15,000 marchers, the day before the group arrived in Jackson.