People

Mackel, Audley Maurice

Audley Maurice Mackel was a prominent dentist from Natchez who resurrected the Natchez chapter of the NAACP in the spring of 1940, by collecting enough support and members to charter a new chapter. He eventually served as the branch secretary. […]

Magee, Ruby

Ruby Magee, born in Tylertown, Mississippi, became active in the civil rights movement during the early sixties while she was a student and Jackson State College. Working along side other activists, such as James Meredith, Ruby was involved in many […]

Magee, Sylvester

Sylvester Magee (May 29, 1841 – October 15, 1971), is believed to be the last surviving American slave. However, as there are no birth records, his actual date of birth cannot be proven. The oldest person ever on record lived to […]

Mars, Florence

Florence Mars (1923-2006) was a native Mississippian who spent much of her life in Neshoba County. She graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1944. Upon graduation Mars traveled and lived in various southern cities, such as Atlanta and New […]

Marsh, Charles

Author of “The Last Days: a Son’s Story of Sin and Segregation at the Dawn of a New South.” This book tells of Marsh’s childhood growing up in Laurel, Miss. (8 Highland Woods), and of his minister father. Marsh’s father, […]

Marshall, Susie

Susie Marshall served over forty-one years from 1937 to 1978 as an educator in Oxford and Lafayette County. She was a Jeanne Supervisor for twenty-six African-American Lafayette schools from 1952 to 1964. She graduated from Rust College with a degree […]

Marszalek, John and Jeanne

John F. Marszalek graduated from Canisius College and the University of Notre Dame. A member of the Mississippi State University faculty from 1973 to 2002, he was a prolific writer on the Civil Rights Movement, authoring the Encyclopedia of African-American […]

Martin, Doroth M.

DOROTHY M. MARTIN was born in Tallahatchie County on June 24, 1952. She attended Northwest Mississippi Junior College and graduated from Delta State University. She served as a deputy clerk in the county tax assessor’s office from January 1976 until […]

Martin, Joe: Oral History

Joe Martin was a native of Pike County, Mississippi. He was very involved with race relations in his community. One sector of race relations that he was passionate about is education. Through his interview, Martin recalls events he witnessed as […]

Marx, Leopold

Leopold Marx was a Jewish immigrant who emigrated from Germany to avoid the draft. He settled in Mississippi and began to purchase land in what was at the time Tunica County. He faced great discrimination for his Jewish heritage, but […]

Mason, Gilbert

Gilbert R. Mason was born on Oct. 7, 1928 to Mr. Willie Atwood Mason and Mrs. Alean Jackson Mason. He was delivered by a black midwife. As a young child, Mason heard a lot of stories told by his father […]

Matthews, Burnita Shelton

Burnita Shelton Matthews, born near Hazlehurst in 1894, became the first woman to be appointed to the Federal District Court Bench. She fought for women’s rights, focusing her energy on educating women about their rights while also participating in the […]

Matthews, Carolyn: Oral History

Carolyn Matthews was born in 1946 in Philadelphia, MS, which she describes as a normal, quiet, small town.  Her father was a policeman, and her mother was a dressmaker.  Because her parents worked most of the time, she was raised […]

Mayer, Dr. William: Oral History

Dr. William Mayer is a physician in McComb, Mississippi, who has lived in the town for over 60 years. He is a native of Shelby, Ohio, where he lived until he received his medical degree. He speaks fondly of his […]

McCarty, Osceola

Osceola McCarty was a poor washerwoman from Shubuta, MS. She became one of the most famous women to have lived in Clarke County. Osceola saved money all of her life to give to The University of Southern Mississippi (USM). She […]

McDew, Charles “Chuck”: Oral History

Charles “Chuck” McDew participated in the civil rights movement in many parts of the American South, including Mississippi. He was a pivotal movement activist in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In this interview, he begins by discussing segregated seating […]

McGee, Joyce: Oral History

Joyce McGee talks about her education at Burglund High School and race relations in McComb while growing up. She speaks on her and her father’s involvement. Aside from her family’s involvement with the civil rights movement, Joyce talks about the […]

McGee, Willie

On December 3, 1945, Willie McGee, an African-American resident of Laurel, was indicted by an all-white Jones County grand jury for raping a married white woman. McGee, in his thirties, was a delivery man at a local grocery store. Although […]

McInnis, Hattie V.J.

McInnis was the first music teacher of Leontyne Price and the first minority columnist for the Laurel Leader-Call (then known as the Laurel Daily Leader). She and her husband owned a funeral parlor on Meridian Avenue in northeast Laurel. Her […]

McKenzie, Rev. Advial

Rev. Advial McKenzie was a human rights activist. He is currently Pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Quitman, Clarke County, Mississippi. Rev. McKenzie was speaker at the Neshoba Call for Justice in 2004. At the 43rd Annual Mississippi Civil Rights […]

McLaurin, Charles

In the 1960s, Charles McLaurin came to Ruleville as part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), in order to register black voters. McLaurin initially worked out of the Williams Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, using it as an venue to […]

Melton, Clinton

The September 1955 acquittal of JW Milam and Roy Bryant for the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till fueled further racial violence. Clinton Melton was a proud black man who was gunned down here 2 1/2 months later by Milam’s friend […]

Meredith, James

James Meredith, a well-known Civil Rights activist in the mid-’60s, was born and raised in Kosciusko, the county seat of Attala. He grew up in an area where the practice of racial segregation was accepted and practiced with fierce enforcement. […]

Metcalf, George and Jackson, Wharlest

George Metcalf and Wharlest Jackson both worked at the Armstrong Tire and Rubber Company and both were active members of the NAACP with Metcalf as president of the local chapter and Jackson as the treasurer. Jim Crow was well established […]

Metz, George

Metz was an investigative journalist during the Civil Rights Movement. He became famous for his work during the 1964 murders in Neshoba County. He was the first to report that the FBI had several suspects in the killings. In an […]

Metzger, Thurl

Thurl Metzger, former Heifer executive director, was involved in the project since its inception, visiting the Prentiss campus many times. Remembering the project in this book “The Road to Development”he recalled, “Heifer Project was involved in a small part of […]

Middleton, Ray

Ray Middleton was a preacher in Batesville who tried to obtain voting rights before the Civil Rights Movement started. Sources: Wirt, Frederick M. “Politics and Southern Equality.”Chicago: Aldine Publishing (1970). Wirt, Frederick M. “We Ain’t What We Was.”Durham: Duke University […]

Miles, Robert

Robert Miles provided leadership during the Civil Rights Movement in the city of Batesville. Miles worked with COFO to register black voters. Miles’s leadership came with a huge sacrifice of safety. He received threatening calls, and in 1967 local residents […]

Miller, T.J.

T.J. Miller was one of the ten people gathered at Mt. Zion Baptist Church for a finance meeting on June 16, 1964. After the meeting was dismissed, he followed the Steele family in his car. He was also stopped by […]

Mitchell, John Jordan

John Jordan Mitchell, son of Mose Duncan Mitchell, became the first and only black electrician with the Tishomingo County Electric Power Association.

Mitchell, Mose Duncan

After stepping down as principal of the black school, he studied electricity on his own and later ran the power plant in Iuka, the W.J. Brinkley House.

Mollison, W. E.

W.E. Mollison was an early leader for equal rights in Mississippi and served as historical inspiration for noted activists like Henry Sias and Unita Blackwell. W.E. Mollison was born in 1859 near Mayersville, Mississippi. Following attendance at Fisk University and […]

Monley, Queene Campbell: Oral History

While not heavily involved with the Civil Rights Movement, Queene Campbell Monley was there to witness her sister’s treatment as a participant in the Burglund High School walkout. She provides a look at how the actions of activists and the […]

Moody, Anne

Anne Moody, author of A Coming of Age in Mississippi, was born in Wilkinson County in 1940. Her book is an autobiographical account of her experience growing up in South Mississippi. Published in 1969, Moody’s novel tells the story of […]

Moody, John: Oral History

John Moody participated in the Freedom Rides in 1961. He first describes the mob violence in Birmingham. Moody then speaks about the incarceration conditions in Mississippi. You can learn more about the Freedom Rides in the documentary The Children Shall Lead (link). […]

Moore, Amzie

Moore was a postal worker as well as a businessman. Moore owned and operated a filling station on Highway 61 that was one of the few gas station blacks traveling from Memphis to Vicksburg could patron without being harassed. In […]

Moore, Calvin

Sheriff of Covington County during the Voter Registration Movement of 1964. Sources: http://www.usm.edu/crdp/html/transcripts/manuscript-mclaurin_griffin.shtml

Moore, Charles E. and Dee, Henry Hezekiah

The two friends, a sawmill worker and a college student, were 19 when they disappeared in May 1964, last seen hitchhiking on the highway near Meadville, Miss. They were beaten and drowned by Klansman who mistakenly believed the two were […]

Morris, Leonard

Leonard Morris was one of the first black graduates from the University of Mississippi in 1971. He worked in stimulating economic development in Batesville. In 1975 Morris sat on the Panola School Board, working with white members to improve education […]

Moses, Robert “Bob”

Robert Moses was born in 1935 and was a major contributor towards the fight towards social equity for all, becoming a major figure in the Civil Rights Movement. Moses first got involved with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Following […]

Mulholland, Joan Trumpower: Oral History

Joan Trumpower Mulholland participated in the Freedom Rides in 1961. She describes the conditions at the prison in comparison to the jail. The video was filmed for the documentary The Children Shall Lead (link).   Joan Trumpower Mulholland from Winter Institute […]

Myers, Lulla

Presently, Lulla Myers is president of the Prentiss Institute board of directors, the only remaining functioning body of the school in south Mississippi. She was once a student at the Institute as well. Sources: Matthews, Jaman, Remembrance of Days Past: […]