Bryant, Curtis Conway

Curtis Conway Bryant, known as C. C., was born in Tylertown, Mississippi, in 1917. Bryant was an active community member and volunteer who soon became a figurehead during the Civil Rights Movement. As a member of the NAACP, Bryant worked […]

Connor, Peggy Jean

Connor was the owner of Jean’s Beauty Shop at 510 Mobile Street. She served as state Executive Secretary of the MFDP (Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party) and Treasurer of the Freedom Summer project in Hattiesburg. Sources: Tusa, Bobs. The University of […]

Dahmer, Vernon

Vernon Dahmer, Sr., (1908-1966) was a businessman and civil rights activist in the Hattiesburg area. He owned several businesses, including a sawmill and store, and he served two terms as president of the NAACP chapter in the local area. Dahmer […]

Fairley, JC

Fairley was the co-owner of Fairley’s Radio and TV Repair at 522 Mobile Street and was the President of the Forrest County NAACP from 1962 to 1966. As president, Fairley pushed for the desegregation of public areas, increased voter registration […]

Forrest County Courthouse

The Forrest County Courthouse was a cite of contention for many Civil Rights Movement activists in Hattiesburg. Although the U.S. Constitution guaranteed American citizens the right to vote, in many areas of the South, local registrars of voters implemented procedures […]

Forrest, Nathan Bedford

Nathaniel Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821-October 29, 1877) was a Confederate army general and an instrumental figure in the founding and growth of the Ku Klux Klan. Forrest was perhaps the American Civil War’s most highly regarded cavalry and partisan […]

Freedom House of Hattiesburg

In 1964, beginning with Freedom Day (January 22) and continuing through Freedom Summer, Mrs. Lenon E. Woods, the owner of the Woods Guest House at 507 and 509 Mobile Street, allowed the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) to use a […]

Gray, Victoria Jackson

Victoria Jackson Gray was a Hattiesburg native that helped lead the MFDP’s challenge to Mississippi’s all white delegation to the Democratic National Convention of 1964. Gray also ran on the MFDP ticket for the U.S. Senate seat then held by […]

Hattiesburg Ministers Union Headquarters

This building at 522 Mobile Street (the northeast corner of 6th and Mobile Streets), constructed in 1950 and still standing, housed J.C. Fairley’s Radio and TV Repair business and the Negro Masonic Lodge No. 115 (identified by the cornerstone). While […]

Kennard, Clyde

Clyde Kennard (1927-1963) was a pioneer of attempting to desegregate Mississippi’s higher education system. He was an army veteran and had attended University of Chicago, with significant work completed towards a political science degree, when he moved back home to […]

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Considered one of the most integral organizations in the 1960s, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, pronounced “Snick”) functioned to offer young people a voice during the Civil Rights Movement. SNCC was founded during the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) […]