Civil Rights in East Texas

06/04/2026

James Meredith believes his 1966 March Against Fear was more important than what he is most known for — becoming the first Black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi.

Meredith, who no longer gives interviews, recently told Mississippi Today through his wife that he agrees with his granddaughter, Janae Knight, who said integrating the university she now attends was more personal. “It was necessary to wage his war against segregation,” Knight said.

But the March Against Fear was more important “because it included the masses gaining citizenship,” she said.

Friday, June 5, marks the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the March Against Fear. A program commemorating that event is set for 2 p.m. Thursday, June 4, at Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center in Jackson.
https://mississippitoday.org/2026/06/03/james-meredith-march-against-fear/

06/04/2026

June 4, 1972–At Peter O’Malley’s urging, Jackie Robinson attends Old Timers’ Day at Dodgers Stadium. During the game, 3 numbers are retired: Sandy Koufax’s 32, Roy Campanella’s 39, and Jackie Robinson’s 42.

06/04/2026

Bayard Rustin once wrote, “The only weapon we have is our bodies.” Rustin’s life was not only a testament to the non-violent weaponization of his own body, it was a call for the bodily freedom to live as he deemed and love whom he desired.

As one of the founders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Rustin worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. to bring about the boycott of Montgomery’s segregated buses in 1956, during which time he introduced King to Gandhi’s philosophy of resistance. Rustin’s mastery of civil disobedience tactics reached an apex in 1963. That year would see him become a key organizer of the now famous March on Washington, a moment immortalized by the images of thousands of bodies becoming weapons in the fight for jobs and freedom.

But Rustin’s struggle for equal rights was not confined to his race; as an openly gay man, he was attacked and shunned by friend and foe alike. His refusal to hide who he was while he continued to fight on the front lines of the civil rights movement revealed the heart of a hero—one who understood that the only true freedom is complete freedom.

Bayard Rustin was featured in our “Men Of Change: Power. Triumph. Truth.” exhibition which traveled from 2019 through 2023.



Image: Courtesy of Smithsonian Affiliations

06/04/2026

06/02/2026

06/01/2026

By June 1, 1921, the Tulsa Race Massacre had left behind the devastation of a deliberate assault on Black life, Black excellence, and Black progress.

Too often in this nation, Black advancement has been met with backlash, violence, erasure, and policy designed to pull back what had been gained. We saw it after Reconstruction, when Black civic participation was answered with terror, disenfranchisement, and the rise of Jim Crow. We saw it in places like Colfax, Wilmington, Elaine, and Tulsa. And 105 years later, we still see echoes of that pattern when voting rights are weakened, DEI is dismantled, truth is resisted, and efforts to widen opportunity are attacked.

Remembering June 1, 1921 also means telling the truth about what comes after progress in America. It means staying vigilant, organized, and unwilling to let backlash have the final word.