Delta Ministry in Washington Co.

The Delta Ministry was a Greenville-based group that provided emergency assistance, counseling, advocacy and other services for the poor blacks and those whites who began to see that they too are victims of an unjust system in the Mississippi Delta. […]

Freedom City

About twelve miles south of Greenville in Swiftwater, Mississippi, is where “Freedom City”was set up. This area consisted of twenty-one ready built houses constructed to house displaced African-Americans who were fired from farm jobs in three area counties. The 400 […]

Greenville Air Force Base Takeover

(1/1/1966) This was a project sponsored by the National Council of Churches of Mississippi. NCC started a takeover of the abandoned Greenville Air Force Base by evicted black farmworkers who had been living in tents during sub-freezing temperatures. The takeover […]

Johnson, Sarah H.

Johnson was a civil rights activist and was elected as the first black member of Greenville City Council in 1973. Sources: http://anna.lib.usm.edu/%7Espcol/crda/oh/ohjohnsonsp.html

Strike City

A group of forty-nine African-American men, women, and children decided to go on strike after they demanded a raise of $1.25 an hour or $9 dollars a day. They were only being paid $3 per day for using a hoe, […]

The Delta Democrat-Times and the Carters

The Delta Democrat-Times, in Greenville, Miss., under the leadership of Hodding Carter II, and later his son, Hodding Carter III, advocated fairness and equal rights in the Mississippi Delta. Carter II, a Louisiana native, moved to Greenville in 1936 to […]

Thompson, Dr. William Bert

Dr. William Bert Thompson was interviewed regarding his career of teaching and administration in Mississippi public schools. For twenty years he served in the Greenville, Mississippi, public schools as assistant principal, principal, and superintendent. He guided the Greenville public school […]

Washington – Documents

Washington County Data Dashboard

Demographic data that helps add context to many historical events.