MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Civil Rights Icon James Meredith is visiting the bluff city, and Thursday, he marched with the Peabody Ducks as honorary Duckmaster.
Meredith's civil rights era connections to Memphis, the Peabody, and the University of Mississippi brought him back to the area 55 years after his "March Against Fear" from Memphis to Jackson, Mississippi, in June 1966.
“When I started the march in front of the Peabody Hotel, Blacks couldn’t sleep here. But today I walked with the ducks,” said Meredith.
Meredith is also the first African-American student admitted to the then racially segregated University of Mississippi.
Memphis is the only city with a James Meredith building.