Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg was the economic and social center of Southeast Mississippi. Black people made up roughly 32 percent of the city’s 34,989 residents. As of 1961, only 25 Black people were on the voting rolls. Theron Lynd, the county’s white registrar, used everything in his power to deny Black people the right to vote. To jumpstart a voter registration drive, local activist Vernon Dahmer invited SNCC to Hattiesburg in 1962. Movement activity soon escalated, and by the following winter, SNCC held a “Freedom Day” at the courthouse in which hundreds of people protested Lynd’s refusal to register Black voters.
People
- Curtis Hayes
- Dorie Ladner
- Hollis Watkins
- Jean Wheeler
- Joyce Ladner
- Lawrence Guyot
- Peggy Jean Connor
- Vernon Dahmer
- Victoria Gray (Adams)
- Sandy Leigh
