James Meredith film weighs 'complicated' civil rights figure
FILE - In this July 19, 2018, file photo, civil rights movement activist James Meredith, right, greets a friend with a black power salute as he takes a coffee break at a north Jackson, Miss., grocery store. It was one of the most violent moments of the Civil Rights Movement and it forever changed life in the American Deep South. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)RIO RANCHO, N.M. – A new documentary is diving into the complicated, and sometimes contradictory life of James Meredith, a Black civil rights figure who helped change Mississippi. It was one of the most violent moments of the Civil Rights Movement and Meredith's determination to enroll in Ole Miss forever transformed life in the American Deep South. “I hope that people will see this from the viewpoint from the first person ... almost as if they are James Meredith going through this.”___Russell Contreras is a member of The Associated Press’ Race and Ethnicity Team.
Icons of 1960s civil rights movement voice cautious optimism
At front is civil rights worker Andrew Young, and at right, behind King is Rev. Young, a King lieutenant, marvels at both the sizes and the spontaneity of the protests. (AP Photo, File)CINCINNATI Bob Moses says America is at a lurching moment" for racial change, potentially as transforming as the Civil War era and as the 1960s civil rights movement that he helped lead. I dont think anybody has a notion of how big a change this is going to introduce.Moses remains cautious. Some Americans were shocked, it seems to me, to discover they had actually been swimming in this deep, deep sea and didn't understand it.___Contreras reported from Rio Rancho, New Mexico.