The courthouse housed in the building was the setting of many notable cases , especially during the Civil Rights Movement . On May 31 , 1961 , James Meredith filed a lawsuit in the Meridian court against the University of Mississippi , and the initial trial was held in the courthouse . The suit would eventually go to the Supreme Court , which ruled in Meredith 's favor . The Meridian courthouse was also the site of the '' United States v. Price '' case , in which 19 men where charged with the murders of James Chaney , Michael Schwerner , and Andrew Goodman , in October 1967 . The trial resulted in the conviction of 7 people and was the first time an all-white jury in Mississippi convicted a white person on civil rights charges
murders
Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner
United States Post Office and Courthouse (Meridian, Mississippi)