20 September 1961
On this date in 1961…
James Lee Meredith was refused access as a student to the University of Mississippi because of his race.
Other Years:
1809 – Confederate General Sterling Price was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia.
1814 - “The Star-Spangled Banner,” originally a poem titled “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” is published as a song with lyrics by Francis Scott Key eventually becoming the US national anthem
1863 - Confederate troops stampede federals at the Battle of Chickamauga, near Chattanooga, Tennessee
1939 - Joe Louis of Lafayette, Alabama knocks Bob Pastor down five times before an 11th-round knock-out in his eighth heavyweight boxing title defense
1967 – Hurricane Beulah hit the Texas-Mexican border, killing 38.
1970 - Doors frontman Jim Morrison of Melbourne, Florida is found guilty of “open profanity and indecent exposure” after allegedly exposing himself at a concert in Miami in 1969
1973 – Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match at the Houston Astrodome.
1995 – The U.S. House of Representatives voted to drop the national speed limit, allowing states to decide their own speed limits.
2007 – Between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters marched on Jena, Louisiana, in support of six black youths who had been convicted of assaulting a white classmate.
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