Wednesday · November 11, 2026

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James Meredith earns his degree from Ole Miss

Eleven months after federal marshals walked him to class through riots, he leaves with a degree in political science.

In September 1962, James Meredith's enrollment at the University of Mississippi had touched off riots so violent that President Kennedy sent federal troops to Oxford to restore order. On August 18, 1963, Meredith walked across the stage and became the first African American to receive a degree from the university. He endured a year of isolation and harassment from classmates to get there. The ceremony closed a fight that began with his 1961 application and a federal court order…

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More from August 18

Tennessee ratifies; the 19th Amendment clears its final hurdle

A 24-year-old legislator's last-minute switch gives suffrage the 36th state it needed.

White comes home to Roanoke and finds it empty; the houses are taken down

He lands on his granddaughter's third birthday and finds only a carved word where his colony used to be.

Hall finds a second Martian moon, tucked in close to the planet

Six days after spotting Deimos, the Naval Observatory astronomer confirms an inner satellite so near Mars it nearly hides in the glare.

Through rain and mud, Union soldiers reach the Weldon Railroad, then dig in after a Confederate counterattack pushes them back a mile.

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More from Cold War America

Pan Am's jet lands at Le Bourget; New York to Paris in six hours of air time

A refueling stop in Gander was the only thing slowing the Clipper America down.

One officer says no, and a Soviet sub's nuclear torpedo stays in its tube

Depth-charged and nearly out of air near Cuba, B-59's crew thought the war had already started.

Khrushchev agreed to pull the missiles out of Cuba

Thirteen days after U-2 photographs found the sites, the Soviet premier backs down and the world exhales.

Crews set the last piece, and the Gateway Arch finally closes at 630 feet

A nine-ton triangle of steel bridges the gap between two legs that had been rising toward each other for two years.

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