ion to University of Mississippi. The university attempted to block Meredith's admission, and so he went to court. After working through the state courts, Meredith was successful when a federal court ordered the university to desegregate and accept Meredith as a student. The governor of Mississippi, Ross Barnett, defied the court order and tried to prevent Meredith from enrolling. In response, the administration of President Kennedy intervened to uphold the court order. Kennedy sent federal marshals with Meredith when he attempted to enroll. During his first night on campus, a riot broke out when whites began to harass the federal marshals. In the end, 2 people were killed, and about 375 people were wounded. When the hated racist governor of Alabama, George C. Wallace, threatened t try and block the desegregation of the University of Alabama in 1963, the Kennedy Administration responded with the full power of the federal government, including the U.S. Army, to prevent violence and enforce desegregation. The showdowns with Barnett and Wallace pushed Kennedy, whose support for civil rights up to that time had been weak, into a true commitment to end segregation. In June 1963 Kennedy proposed civil rights legislation. The Famous March on Washington The national civil rights leadership decided to keep pressure on both the Kennedy administration and congress to pass the civil rights legislation proposed by Kennedy by planning a March on Washington. Every civil rights group was there including leaders of the NAACP, CORE, SCLC, the Urban League, and SNCC. Martin Luther King, Jr., who delivered his moving "I Have a Dream" oration to an audience of more than 200,000 civil rights supporters. This speech is one of the most famous speeches ever, as it powerfully and concisely delivers the ideals behind the fight for civil rights. After Kennedy was killed, Lyndon Johnson carried on his pledge to fight for civil rights. Johnson managed to get the Civ...
