Meek to be Recognized at Overby Center for Publication of Riot

James Meredith, left, and Ed Meek

Edwin E. Meek will be recognized at the Overby Center, Sept. 30, for the publication of his photo-history, RIOT: Witness to Anger and Change. RIOT contains 120 photos, many previously unpublished, of the student demonstration protesting the admission of the school’s first black applicant, James Meredith, in 1962.

The program, which is open to the public, begins at 5 p.m on the 53rd anniversary of the 1962 riot.

The program, which is open to the public, begins at 5 p.m on the 53rd anniversary of the 1962 riot. Joining Meek in a discussion of those events will be journalism professor Curtis Wilkie, who wrote the introduction to the book, and former Governor William Winter, who wrote the afterword.

In 1962 Meek and Wilkie were journalism students at the University of Mississippi. While Meek was in the midst of the riot taking pictures, Wilkie braved tear gas to witness the mindless destruction of the campus.

Wilkie is a Fellow for Southern Journalism at the Overby Center. He was the Boston Globe’s White House correspondent from 1977 to 1982 and Middle East bureau chief. Meek is a former vice chancellor for public relations and marketing and associate professor of journalism at the University of Mississippi. He has published 13 niche magazines and is the founder of hottytoddy.com.Winter served as Governor of Mississippi from 1980 to 1984 and was nationally acclaimed for the groundbreaking passage of education reform legislation.

Meek, who in 1962 was a 22-year-old staff photographer for University Public Information, stayed up all night and took over 500 photos. The next day, he took exclusive photos of Meredith attending class. In 2014 Ed Meek donated his photo collection to the University of Mississippi Library.