James Meredith knew he would have a fight on his hands (though he may have underestimated its scope), but ten years in the Air Force, including a stint in the Korean War, prepared him. To enter college. Meredith was African-American descent, at a time when Ole’ Miss had a proud and storied tradition of letting in only white students. Meredith qualified for admission in every way, and predictably was denied anyway, enlisted the legal assistance of the NAACP, and took his case to the Supreme Court.

On this day, August 18, in 1963, after Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, over the objections of the state’s governor, forced University of Mississippi to admit him, James Meredith graduated.

The graduation was less of a concern than the admittance — busloads of people came out to prevent the invasion. On the day before Meredith was to enter the campus, a radio address by Massachusetts Governor Ross Barnett whipped up the crowd into a frenzy. Federal marshals called in the secure peace were pelted with rocks and bottles and responded with tear gas. Two people died, and 160 were wounded. President Kennedy called in an armed force of 30,000 to restrain the town and secure Meredith’s journey to the campus unharmed.