Ed Meek to Discuss His RIOT Photo Album at Oxford-Lafayette Library December 3

On December 3 at noon, Dr. Ed Meek will present a slide show at the Oxford-Lafayette County Public Library and discuss photos from his new book, Riot: Witness to Anger and Change, co-published this fall by Yoknapatawpha Press and the Meek School of Journalism and New Media.

RIOT albums will be available at the library, and Ed Meek will sign books after his slide show presentation.

The 12th annual USA Best Book Awards (USABookNews.com) listed Riot: Witness to Anger and Change as one of the best books in 2015. Jeffrey Keen, president and CEO of USA Book News, called Ed Meek’s Riot “breathtaking…important.” Among the 100-plus categories, Ed Meek’s Riot: Witness to Anger and Change (2015) won in the U.S. History category. This year’s contest yielded over 2,000 entries from mainstream to independent publishers.

When a 1962 student demonstration in the Circle protesting the university’s admission of James Meredith turned violent, Meek, a 22-year-old graduate of Ole Miss and staff photographer for the University of Mississippi’s Public Information Office, was first at the scene. He stayed up all night and took over 500 photos including exclusive shots of Meredith in the classroom.

At a recent book-signing in Jackson, James Meredith warmly endorsed Meek’s book, calling it the “best of hundreds” written about the events surrounding Meredith’s admission to The University of Mississippi in 1962.

“I read the book three times, and it is the best of all. There is one photo in there that will last a thousand years,” Meredith said, referring to the cover photo of paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division guarding the Lyceum Building with bayonet-mounted rifles.

Meek writes in his Foreword, “It is my hope that the images in this book will serve to enlighten a new generation and to show what the admission of James Meredith meant to Mississippi.”

Covering the 1962 riot was a turning point, he observed, which led him to confront past mistakes and to support and foster integration and diversity in the public schools and work place.

For further information, visit www.yoknapatawphapress.com.

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