To gain some support, James Meredith discussed this problem with Mr. Evers, the Mississippi Field Secretary for the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). Mr. Evers suggested that Meredith should talk to Thurgood Marshall from the Legal Defense and Educational Fund because Meredith was “not financially able to fight a legal battle against the state of Mississippi,” as Meredith mentioned in his letter to Thurgood Marshall. On May 31, 1961, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed this suit to the Supreme Court claiming that James Meredith was not admitted to the University of Mississippi solely on the fact that he was not white. As opposed to the four people that had attempted this before James Meredith, the Supreme Court upheld Meredith’s right to admission at the University of Mississippi in the case of Meredith vs. Fair.

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