<P> Note: Mississippi had passed a new constitution in 1890 that effectively disfranchised most blacks by changing electoral and voter registration requirements; although it deprived them of constitutional rights authorized under post-Civil War amendments, it survived US Supreme Court challenges at the time . It was not until after passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that most blacks in Mississippi and other southern states gained federal protection to enforce the constitutional right of citizens to vote . </P> <P> In September 1962, James Meredith won a lawsuit to secure admission to the previously segregated University of Mississippi . He attempted to enter campus on September 20, on September 25, and again on September 26 . He was blocked by Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett, who said, "(N) o school will be integrated in Mississippi while I am your Governor ." The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held Barnett and Lieutenant Governor Paul B. Johnson, Jr. in contempt, ordering them arrested and fined more than $10,000 for each day they refused to allow Meredith to enroll . </P> <P> Attorney General Robert Kennedy sent in a force of U.S. Marshals . On September 30, 1962, Meredith entered the campus under their escort . Students and other whites began rioting that evening, throwing rocks and firing on the U.S. Marshals guarding Meredith at Lyceum Hall . Two people, including a French journalist, were killed; 28 marshals suffered gunshot wounds; and 160 others were injured . President John F. Kennedy sent regular US Army forces to the campus to quell the riot . Meredith began classes the day after the troops arrived . </P> <P> Kennard and other activists continued to work on public university desegregation . In 1965 Raylawni Branch and Gwendolyn Elaine Armstrong became the first African - American students to attend the University of Southern Mississippi . By that time, McCain helped ensure they had a peaceful entry . In 2006, Judge Robert Helfrich ruled that Kennard was factually innocent of all charges for which he had been convicted in the 1950s . </P>

Who are three activists associated with the african-american civil rights movement