"Veni Vidi Vici"- I came, I saw, I conquered. James Meredith is no Julius Cesar, for he conquered something much greater than a piece of land. He opened the gates of knowledge to those who were deemed unworthy of education due to their skin color.

Half a century ago, he filed law suit against the University of Mississippi-better known as Ole Miss-for denying admission and eventually won the suit allowing him to attend the university.

But, what ensued was a series of bloody riots against Meredith's admission and President John.F. Kennedy had to send National troops to protect Meredith.

Despite repeated attempts by then Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett, among others, to stop him entering the school's Oxford campus, Meredith became the first African-American student on Oct.1, 1962 of a segregated school.

To commemorate Meredith's 50th year of admission to the school, University of Mississippi will be conducting a wide array of commemoration program throughout October.

The events scheduled by the University for Monday include "The U.S. Marshals and Oxford-A 50th Anniversary Panel," "A Lawyer's Impact: Mississippi Burning," "50 Years of Integration, Opening the Closed Society" among others. There is also a Black Student Union tribute to Meredith.

A library exhibit named "We Shall March Ahead: Mississippi and the Civil Rights Movement" will be open throughout the month.

The events scheduled to commemorate the occasion, are listed in the university calendar and almost all of the programs and events are open to public for free of cost, unless it is mentioned otherwise.

'I'm still at war'

It may have been 50 years since Meredith's fight for admission in a segregated school, but he thinks he's still at war.

In a yet-to-be-aired BBC interview, Meredith said race is still a critical issue in America despite the election of Barack Obama and he feels 'still at war against white supremacy'

In his own words,

"I went to war 50 years ago and I'm still at war.....The present president was elected by the exact same people who elected the first 43 presidents of United States. And for exactly the same reasons. So, no nothing has changed yet. I have always been at war with system and not people. I just hope before I die I get the enemy doing knowledge...that I war with them... (sic) That they have won almost all the time... and that may be I will have one victory."