Mississippi Voting Rights Archives

July 22, 1966: Lawful Demonstrators Threatened by Klan and Police in Grenada, Mississippi

U.S. District Judge issued an injunction ordering police in Grenada, Mississippi to stop interfering with lawful protest. This ruling followed weeks of arrests and beating of demonstrators who had been attempting to desegregate businesses in the town.

James Meredith and Stokely Carmichael. Photo by Bob Fitch.

June 6, 1966: James Meredith and the March Against Fear

Air Force veteran James Meredith began the March Against Fear from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi.

Jan. 10, 1966: Voting Rights Activist Vernon Dahmer Murdered

Vernon Dahmer was killed when the Ku Klux Klan fired bombed his home. This was one day after Dahmer offered to pay the election poll tax for anyone who could not afford it.

Side entrance to the Governor’s mansion on Capital Street in Jackson on June 17, 1965.

June 17, 1965: Protest for Voting Rights in Jackson, Mississippi

Five-year-old Anthony Quin and his mother and siblings protested against the election of five Mississippi Congressmen from districts where Black people were not allowed to vote. Refused admittance, they sat on the steps and police-instigated mayhem ensued.

Aug. 22, 1964: Sharecroppers Demand Delivery of Full Suffrage in the U.S.

Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, and the other members of the MFDP at the Democratic National Convention, questioned the nation about the lack of “one person, one vote” in the United States.

Aug. 6, 1964: Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party Convention

The MFDP held a State Convention with 2,500 people in Jackson, Mississippi.

photos of the three missing men during Mississippi Freedom Summer.

Aug. 4, 1964: Civil Rights Workers Bodies Found

The bodies of three lynched civil rights workers (James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman) were found in Neshoba County, Mississippi.

Jan. 31, 1964: WWII Veteran Louis Allen Murdered

Louis Allen, a WWII veteran who witnessed and was willing to testify about the murder of a voting rights worker in Mississippi, was murdered.

June 12, 1963: Medgar Evers Murdered in Mississippi

Medgar Evers, WWII veteran and civil rights activist, was murdered by a white supremacist in Jackson, Mississippi.

Sept. 25, 1961: Murder of Herbert Lee

Herbert Lee, a farmer who helped voting rights activists, was murdered by a Mississippi state legislator in broad daylight.

Aug. 13, 1955: Lamar Smith Murdered

Lamar Smith, 63-year-old farmer and WWI veteran, was shot dead in Brookhaven, Mississippi, for urging African Americans to vote.

May 7, 1955: Murder of Rev. George W. Lee

Rev. George W. Lee, one of the first African Americans registered to vote in Humphreys County since Reconstruction and head of the Belzoni, Mississippi NAACP, was murdered.

Nov. 1, 1890: Mississippi Constitution

Mississippi adopted a state constitution with poll tax and literacy tests to roll back the gains of the Reconstruction era.

F.M.B. "Marsh" Cook | ZInn Education Project

July 23, 1890: F. M. B. “Marsh” Cook Killed

F. M. B. “Marsh” Cook, a white man, was killed for standing up against the white supremacist 1890 Mississippi Constitutional Convention.

Sept. 4, 1875: Clinton, Mississippi Massacre

Nearly 50 African-Americans were killed by white mobs during the Clinton Riot.

Newspaper article on the Vicksburg Massacre.

Dec. 7, 1874: Vicksburg Massacre

White people attacked and killed many Black citizens who had organized for a Black sheriff to remain in office during the Vicksburg Massacre.