Civil Rights Marker Honors State's Past, Symbolizes Future (MS)

By Emerald Alexis Ware
Thursday, July 30, 2015 12:41 p.m. CDT

Forty-nine years ago, James Meredith left Memphis on foot headed for Jackson. What started out as a small, quiet trek eventually took several tragic twists and turns before concluding at the Mississippi Capitol and becoming one of the marquee moments in the state's civil rights history.

The state and city of Jackson commemorated Meredith's March Against Fear with a marker at the Mississippi Capitol. The marker is the newest addition to the Mississippi Freedom Trail, which pays homage to the people, places and events of the Civil Rights Movement.

State officials unveiled the marker, called "Capitol Rally," on July 29 with a ceremony at the Capitol building.

The march, which started in early June 1966, was one of the seminal moments of the Civil Rights Movement. Part of the way through the march, Meredith was shot and wounded. Although he'd intended it to be a low-key affair, organizations and high-profile figures such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael joined to make it the largest march for justice to take place in Mississippi ...

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2015/jul/30/civil-rights-marker-honors-states-past-symbolizes-/