167 total results

Oral history.; Interview with Jasper Neely conducted on February 19, 2000. Jasper Neely was born in Grenada, Mississippi in 1938. He experienced racism and discrimination at an early age. At the age of 25 Neely got involved in the movement to change conditions for African Americans. He studied at Mississippi Valley State University and was hired as a stock manager at the Liberty Cash Supermarket as their first black employee. In 1979 he was asked to become the President of the local NAACP, and when he did, was fired from his job. He filed suit against his employer which was settled out of court. He then began working full time for the NAACP. Neely was elected to Grenada City Council in 1977.

Oral history.; Interview conducted on March 7, 1993 with James Nix (born 1937). In 1966, Mr. Nix formed a civil rights activist group called the Spirit. This group agitated for civil rights in Hattiesburg and served as bodyguards for local civil rights leaders.

Oral history.; Dr. Leo Orris was born in 1916 in Arlington, Massachussetts. He studied public health and medicine, and after serving in the United States Army during and after World War II, he and his wife Trudy were active in advocating for civil rights. They worked in New York to support civil rights advocacy in Mississippi, and they also spent time in Mississippi, treating patients and educating the black population on infectious diseases.

Oral history.; Wendell "Wendy" Paris was born in 1945 in Labuco, Alabama, a mining camp town outside of Birmingham. The son of college-educated parents, he attended the Tuskegee Institute and studied agriculture. He became active in civil rights work at Tuskegee and continued these efforts in Alabama and Mississippi through organizing Farming Cooperatives, voter registration, pushing for Head Start programs and child care.

Oral history.; Interview with Henry Peacock conducted on April 2, 2000. Henry Peacock was born in Holcomb, Missisippi in 1949 on the Shaw Plantation where his father was a sharecropper. He went to school in Grenada when he was not working on the farm. In 1965 he witnessed a group of activists entering Grenada, which motivated him to get involved with activities in support of civil rights. Peacock became a group leader working to integrate Grenada businesses such as the Chicken Inn.

Oral history.; Interview conducted October 12, 2007 in Neshoba County at the Posey Residence. Buford Posey was from Neshoba county, Mississippi. Posey was an activist who was deeply involved in the civil rights movement in Mississippi. A graduate of what was then Mississippi Southern College, Posey developed a relationship with John Frazier, the young man who resumed Clyde Kennard's journey to become the first African American enrolled at that institution. Posey publicly supported Frazier's application for admission. Among other titles of note, Buford Posey was the first white man to join the Neshoba county NAACP. Further, he spoke out on the national news when the disappearance of Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney came to light. Posey made it his mission to be an activist for human equality and came to know such figures in the movement as Medgar Evers, E.D. Nixon, Fred Shuttlesworth, and Myles Horton, in addition to such infamous persons as Edgar Ray Killen and Sam Bowers.

Oral history.; Born on April 1, 1916, in Grove Hill, Alabama, Clark County, Mrs. Gaynette Cox Flowers Pugh was one of seven children born to Mr. George Cox Sr. and Mrs. Susie Alma Dickinson. When her mother was twenty-five years old, she died, and Mrs. Pugh and her siblings were reared by their grandmother and grandfather. As Mrs. Pugh grew up during the Depression, her grandmother was a schoolteacher, and her grandfather was a farmer, a blacksmith, and a saw mill worker. Mrs. Pugh began her education at a Rosenwald School in Alabama. Her education was interrupted when her grandmother became ill, and Mrs. Pugh cared for her. After her grandmother died, Mrs. Pugh returned to school, and she graduated from Thirty-third Avenue High School in Gulfport, Mississippi. When she was nineteen years old, on November 30, 1937, she married Charles B. Flowers Sr. In 1947, that marriage ended in divorce, and on June 1, 1968, she married Richard Pugh. In 1966, Mrs. Pugh was employed by the Child Development Group of Mississippi as Field Program Advisor; she organized employees and supervised their teaching activities. She attended school in Alabama, and on May 29, 1977, she graduated from Bishop State Junior College in Mobile, Alabama. On June 7, 1981, she graduated from the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. As a volunteer, she has tutored children in kindergarten through third grade, and she has served as a guidance counselor to teenagers in North Gulfport. She is a member of Greater Mount Olive Baptist Church, where she has been a Sunday school teacher, a choir member, and a youth director. She has served as secretary of the Gulfport branch of the NAACP and also of the Mobile, Alabama, branch where she has been a member of the executive board.

Oral history.; Interview conducted on November 7, 1979 with Mrs. Minnie Ripley on the street named after her, Ripley Street, in Mayersville, Mississippi. Ripley was born on August 22, 1900 in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She attended public schools in Mayersville, Mississippi and the Piney Woods Institution in Braxton, Mississippi. During the 1960s, Ripley participated in civil rights activities on a local, state and national level. She participated in the voter registration drives and civil rights marches in Jackson, Mississippi. While marching in Jackson, Ripley was jailed for eleven days with other civil rights marchers.

Oral history.; Interview with Bilbo Rodgers conducted on May 26, 2000. Bilbo Rodgers was born in Louisville, Mississippi in 1924. He worked on the farm with his family as a child, and joined the United States Army in 1943 at the age of 18. Rodgers shipped to England with the 490 Battalion and participated in the D-Day landing in France. He returned to Mississippi in 1945 and finished eleventh and twelfth grades. Rodgers moved to the coast in 1949 in search of a job, and in 1950 was hired by the International Paper Company, where he worked for 35 years.

Oral history.; Interview with Franzetta Sanders conducted on May 17, 2000. Franzetta W. Sanders was born in Moss Point, Mississippi in 1936. She joined the NAACP in the early 1960s and became increasingly involved in the movement for civil rights. Sanders was involved in efforts to integrate the Moss Point Theater, restaurants, and a local swimming pool. She was also involved in boycotts of businesses which did not hire African Americans. Sanders was instrumental in implementing the Head Start Program in Moss Point, where she taught for 14 years.

Oral history.; Interview conducted on June 7, 1999 with Terri Shaw (born 1940). Terri Charlotte Shaw graduated from Antioch College in Ohio and worked for the Buffalo (N.Y.) Courier-Express before spending the summer of 1964 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. After her experiences during Freedom Summer, she completed a master's degree in journalism and worked as a journalist and translator.

Oral history; Interview conducted June 18, 1999 with Ollye Brown Shirley. Ollye Brown Shirley was born in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. She graduated from Mound Bayou High School in 1949 and then studied at Tougaloo College. She went on to Mississippi College for a Master's degree in counseling, and she was one of three black students to integrate the school in 1969. She continued her education with an Education Specialist's degree from Jackson State, and a Ph.D. from the University of Mississippi in higher education in 1988. Shirley serves as Chairperson of the Board of Directors of First American Bank, an African American-owned bank.

Oral history.; Doug Smith was born in 1946, and spent his early life in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. His participation in the Civil Rights Movement first began when his classmate, Robert Plumber, approached him about canvassing and voter registration. Shortly after, Smith joined the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and served as the field secretary for Forrest County. In 1963, he attended the March on Washington, and he attributes this to the beginning of his activist mentality. In the year after, Smith travelled to Atlantic City with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic party (MFDP) as they challenged the all white delegation at the National Convention. At the age of 16, Smith was involved in HattiesburgΓÇÖs mock election, and he played an important part in organizing the Freedom Day, just before Freedom Summer. When he was 21 years old, Smith was drafted for the Vietnam War and remained in the military for 22 years. Smith played a crucial part in the desegregation of Hattiesburg.

Oral history.; Interview conducted on November 11, 1995 with Curtis C. Bryant. Curtis C. Bryant was born in Walthall County, Mississippi in 1917. He worked for the railroad from 1940 to 1979, during which time he was an active member of the railroad union. In 1961, Mr. Bryant and Bob Moses were instrumental in starting the voter registration drive in Mississippi. Bryant was active in the NAACP and the Democratic Party. In retaliation for his civil rights advocacy, Mr. Bryant's barber shop was bombed.

Oral history.; Interview conducted on November 11, 1995 with Curtis C. Bryant. Curtis C. Bryant was born in Walthall County, Mississippi in 1917. He worked for the railroad from 1940 to 1979, during which time he was an active member of the railroad union. In 1961, Mr. Bryant and Bob Moses were instrumental in starting the voter registration drive in Mississippi. Bryant was active in the NAACP and the Democratic Party. In retaliation for his civil rights advocacy, Mr. Bryant's barber shop was bombed.