About 40 miles south of Jackson, Mississippi’s state capital, just off Interstate 55, lies the town of Crystal Springs. Unless you need to fill up your car or your stomach, you almost certainly won’t leave the freeway to visit it. Around 6,000 people live in there. Last year, the town briefly made headlines when members [...]
Mississippi Becomes Last State to Ratify 13th Amendment
February 18, 2013 | Posted by
After almost 150 years, Mississippi has become the last state to ratify the 13th Amendment, which put an end to slavery after the Civil War. The formal ratification of the amendment is a symbolic gesture at this point, but had gone without completion since 1995, when lawmakers believed they had passed it. As it turns [...]
Miss. Man Killed in Hit-And-Run: ‘They Ran Him Over Because He Was Black’
January 18, 2013 | Posted by
Last July on a Mississippi morning, 61-year-old Johnny Lee Butts was fatally hit by a Monte Carlo automobile driven by a teenagers and two passengers. The vehicle struck Butts at between 55 and 70 miles per hour, tossing him 172 feet. The boys fled the scene. Later, the two passengers who were in the vehicle [...]
James Anderson Death: Two More White Men Plead Guilty To Hate Crime Charges
December 5, 2012 | Posted by
Two more white Mississippi men have now pleaded guilty to federal hate crime charges for coming to Jackson last year to harass African-Americans citizens. Prosecutors wouldn’t say whether additional people could be charged. On Tuesday, Jonathan Kyle Gaskamp, 20, of Brandon; and William Kyle Montgomery, 23, pleaded guilty in federal court in Jackson to one [...]
Civil Rights Hero Lawrence Guyot Dies in DC at 73
November 25, 2012 | Posted by
The activist community in Washington, DC, is mourning the passing of Lawrence Guyot, a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi who never became the household name of many of his civil rights compatriots. After he moved to DC, Guyot was a tall, barrel-chested, ubiquitous presence in the capital city, fighting injustice and [...]
Robert Nkemdiche Says Choice His To Reopen Recruiting
November 10, 2012 | Posted by
Robert Nkemdiche, the nation’s No. 1 high-school football recruit, said it was his decision, not his mother’s, to take back his commitment to attend Clemson next year and re0pen recruiting. “Decommitting was not a family thing; it was my decision,” said Nkemdiche, a 6-foot-5, 265-pound defensive end from Grayson High in suburban Atlanta. “My parents [...]
Statue Unveiled To Honor Civil Rights Icon Fannie Lou Hamer
October 11, 2012 | Posted by
Hundreds of men, women and children recently gathered in her hometown of Ruleville, Mississippi for the unveiling of a statue honoring the late civil rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer. Hamer, who would have been 95 on Oct. 6, is best remembered the world over as the woman who was quoted as saying she was “sick [...]
Madonna: I Was Being ‘Ironic’ in Calling Obama ‘Black Muslim’
September 26, 2012 | Posted by
In response to a storm of criticism over her endorsement of President Obama by calling him America’s “black Muslim in the White House,” Madonna yesterday issued a statement saying she was being deliberately “ironic on stage.” “I was being ironic on stage,” she said in a statement released through a spokeswoman. “Yes, I know Obama [...]
Black Couple in Mississippi Have Wedding Banned at White Church
July 28, 2012 | Posted by
A black couple in Mississippi were told they couldn’t get married at the predominantly white church they regularly attend because some church members objected to the wedding. Charles and Te’Andrea Wilson had to get married at a nearby church after the pastor of First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs, Dr. Stan Weatherford, informed them that [...]
Mississippi Changes Tactics To Fight Nation’s Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate
May 29, 2012 | Posted by
MARKS, Miss. — With her hair in a ponytail and her smile quick and wide, it’s hard to tell that high school junior Donyell Hollins has been pulling all-nighters for most of the semester to take care of her infant daughter. Her situation isn’t unusual in the small Delta town of Marks, home to one [...]
