A Mission from God
A Memoir and Challenge for America
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4.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
“I am not a civil rights hero. I am a warrior, and I am on a mission from God.” —James Meredith
James Meredith engineered two of the most epic events of the American civil rights era: the desegregation of the University of Mississippi in 1962, which helped open the doors of education to all Americans; and the March Against Fear in 1966, which helped open the floodgates of voter registration in the South.
Part memoir, part manifesto, A Mission from God is James Meredith’s look back at his courageous and action-packed life and his challenge to America to address the most critical issue of our day: how to educate and uplift the millions of black and white Americans who remain locked in the chains of poverty by improving our public education system.
Born on a small farm in Mississippi, Meredith returned home in 1960 after nine years in the U.S. Air Force, with a master plan to shatter the system of state terror and white supremacy in America. He waged a fourteen-month legal campaign to force the state of Mississippi to honor his rights as an American citizen and admit him to the University of Mississippi. He fought the case all the way to the Supreme Court and won. Meredith endured months of death threats, daily verbal abuse, and round-the-clock protection from federal marshals and thousands of troops to became the first black graduate of the University of Mississippi in 1963.
In 1966 he was shot by a sniper on the second day of his “Walk Against Fear” to inspire voter registration in Mississippi. Though Meredith never allied with traditional civil rights groups, leaders of civil rights organizations flocked to help him complete the march, one of the last great marches of the civil rights era. Decades later, Meredith says, “Now it is time for our next great mission from God. . . . You and I have a divine responsibility to transform America.”
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The last battle of the Civil War was fought in October 1962 when Meredith registered to become the first black student at the University of Mississippi. "Surveying the scene, I felt a little like Dwight Eisenhower on the eve of D-Day," he writes. Four years later, after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, Meredith was shot by a sniper. His one-man March Against Fear, intended to inspire blacks to register to vote, became the last great civil rights march, resulting in approximately 6,000 registered voters. Meredith's mission? Nothing less than to shatter the state-enforced system of white supremacy in Mississippi, preferably with the "awesome physical force of the United States military machine." Do not mistake him for a civil rights activist. Think Zen Warrior. Unabashedly egotistic, contrary by nature, and downright quixotic, he disagreed with Martin Luther King Jr. over the efficacy of nonviolence and worked for Sen. Jesse Helms as a domestic policy adviser. Meredith's biggest influence was his father, a proud subsistence farmer who regarded his land as a sovereign kingdom. He resents being turned into a "feel-good icon of brotherly love and racial reconciliation." With this lively, compelling book, part memoir and part history lesson, Meredith reminds us how far we've come, and urges us to go further.
Customer Reviews
A MISSION FROM GOD, A MEMOIR AND CHALLENGE FOR AMERICA
Excellent writing an important American history story. Can't wait for the movie!
One of the Best book that I have read
I am a senior Citizen who was in Mississippi at the time that Mr. Meredith registers in Old Miss. It was a Praying time for my family and me. I am a student at CA ST University Now. I am majoring in Africana’s Studies, and I chosen to write about Mr. Meredith. I posted on my Facebook page that everyone should read this book. I personally think it the GREATEST Book that I have ever read, and which that every person born, raised in Mississippi should read this book. I would love to meet Mr. Meredith in person. I really do believe He was lead by God to do what he done. God Bless you, and your family, Mr. Meredith.