Throughout the summer of 1962, Mississippi was in a state of frenzy. The Supreme Court was in the middle of making the decision on whether to allow James Meredith to attend the University of Mississippi. When the Court decided to forcibly enroll him, Confederates rolled over in their graves. The spirit of the Confederacy seemed to spark that very day as Governor Ross Barnett assured the state that he would not allow Meredith to be admitted. He passed a law saying that convicted felons could not be admitted to universities (Meredith had been convicted of Voter Fraud). People from all over the South to witness this rebellion. The state of Mississippi had for the longest time, disobeyed the federal government and now their top government official was openly defying the federal government and saying that the order would not go through and Barnett used State police to ensure that Meredith was not admitted. After being denied by state police several times, the Kennedy administration called Barnett on the phone several times and were able to secure an under the table agreement to admit Meredith to the University.
However, the night before Meredith was to be admitted, The University of Mississippi had a football game against Kentucky. At halftime the crowd chanted for Barnett and he gave a speech to them. This fever of the South had Barnett on the fence about his decision and he was considering changing it the night before. Still Meredith would be admitted with the assistance of 500 US Marshals. This time they would be permitted through.
After Meredith had been admitted he went to his first class. Very few students were there. As the day continued students began leaving his classes in protest and soon teachers began leaving out of protest. Meredith sat through these classes even though he would be the only one there. He wanted to go through everything the right way and leave no doubt about what he was there to do. He was there to learn and to do it by any means necessary