June 27, 2026

12:00 PM • Free Registration
Hybrid Event at the NCRM and Livestream

In June 1966, James Meredith, the first Black student at the University of Mississippi, set out on a walk from Memphis to Jackson to challenge the fear still facing Black Mississippians despite two landmark civil rights bills. Wounded by gunfire on day two, leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Floyd McKissick, and Stokely Carmichael completed the march in his place, and it was here that Carmichael first raised the call for “Black Power.” The march drove a 696% increase in Black voter turnout in Mississippi, the highest since Reconstruction.

Sixty years later, the National Civil Rights Museum brings together march veterans and leading scholars to reflect on its legacy, with an exclusive first look at footage from an upcoming documentary, “End of an Era: James Meredith and his March Against Fear.”

Moderator and Panelists

Dr. Flonzie Brown-Wright – American Civil Rights Activist and Author, Panelist

Charles McLaurin – American Civil Rights Activist, Panelist

Dr. Daphene Chamberlain – Chief Program Officer at the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, Panelist

Dr. Aram Goudsouzian – Bizot Family Professor of History at the University of Memphis. Moderator