#OnThisDay in 1961, a white mob attacked Freedom Riders when they attempted to integrate the “all-white” waiting room at the bus station in McComb MS, yelling, “Kill ‘em! Kill ‘em!” The mayor later told the press that segregation would no longer be enforced. mississippitoday.org/2024/11/29/1...

#OnThisDay in 1961, RB Ernie Davis became 1st Black player to win the Heisman. The 1st pick in the NFL draft, doctors discovered he had leukemia. Before his death, Davis said he wasn’t unlucky. “In these years I have had more than most people get in a lifetime.” mississippitoday.org/2024/11/28/1...

#OnThisDay in 1942, legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle. He took “the blues out of the Mississippi Delta and sent it to Mars,” one critic said. At Woodstock, he turned “The Star-Spangled Banner” into a sonic masterpiece. mississippitoday.org/2024/11/27/1...

#OnThisDay in 1883, abolitionist and women’s rights advocate Sojourner Truth died in Battle Creek MI. Freed from slavery, she wandered the country, calling for an end to the institution. A statue of her can be found in Battle Creek. mississippitoday.org/2023/11/26/o...

#OnThisDay in 1898, editor Alexander Manly escaped a lynch mob in Wilmington NC. The mob of 1,500 burned down his Daily Record, the state’s only daily Black newspaper. The mob then killed hundreds of Black residents and seized control of the local government. mississippitoday.org/2024/11/10/1...

#OnThisDay in 1968, singer James Brown, the “Godfather of Soul,” hit #1 on the R&B charts for a record 6th week with “Say It Loud — I’m Black and I’m Proud (Part 1).” Brown saw 17 singles go to #1. He became an inaugural member of the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame. mississippitoday.org/2024/11/09/1...

#OnThisDay in 1955, 6 months after George Lee was killed for leading Black citizens to try and register to vote, Gus Courts led 22 to do the same. He was shot, but survived, calling himself an American refugee from terror, "all because we wanted to vote.” mississippitoday.org/2024/11/08/1...

#OnThisDay in 1837, abolitionist editor Elijah P. Lovejoy was assassinated by a pro-slavery mob. He is considered the first martyr for freedom of the press in America. He had pushed for the end of lynchings of Black Americans and the abolition of slavery. mississippitoday.org/2024/11/07/o...

#OnThisDay in 1869, Klansmen kidnapped and savagely beat Georgia legislator Abram Colby, leaving him for dead. In 1869, the KKK offered him a bribe to not run for re-election. He refused & they beat him. It was one of many acts of violence during Reconstruction. mississippitoday.org/2024/10/29/1...

#OnThisDay in 1926, Chuck Berry, “The Father of Rock & Roll,” was born in St. Louis. Recorded “Johnny B. Goode,” “Roll Over Beethoven!” & “Rock and Roll Music,” which influenced Beatles & others. (Can't post on Blue Sky in MS. It's blocked.) mississippitoday.org/2024/10/18/1...

100 years ago today, B.B King, “The King of the Blues,” was born on a plantation near Itta Bena, Mississippi. In 1987, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In 2006, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the greatest civilian honor. mississippitoday.org/2024/09/16/1...

#OnThisDay in 1963, the KKK planted a bomb inside the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, killing 4 young girls, Denise McNair, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley and Carole Robertson. The bombing became a turning point in the civil rights movement. mississippitoday.org/2024/09/15/1...

#OnThisDay in 1964, Fannie Lou Hamer testified before the DNC’s credentials committee about violence against Black Mississippians who tried to vote. Her testimony ran on all the networks. “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” mississippitoday.org/2024/08/22/1...

#OnThisDay in 1781, Elizabeth Freeman successfully sued for her freedom in Massachusetts after hearing that all people were born free and equal. Her case helped lead the Massachusetts Supreme Court to declare slavery was incompatible with the state constitution. mississippitoday.org/2023/08/21/o...

#OnThisDay in 1619, 20+ Africans, kidnapped by Portuguese forces, landed in Point Comfort VA on an English ship, the 1st recorded Africans to arrive in England’s American colonies. By the time slavery ended, nearly 15M Africans had landed in the Americas. mississippitoday.org/2024/08/20/1...

#OnThisDay in 1958, the NAACP Youth Council in Oklahoma City, led by Clara Luper, began sit-ins to challenge the all-white lunch counters at Katz. Days later, Katz desegregated lunch counters. In all, she was arrested 26 times for her protests. mississippitoday.org/2024/08/19/1...

#OnThisDay in 1963, when James Meredith became 1st Black student to graduate from the University of Mississippi, NAACP lawyer Constance Baker Motley cheered him. She shepherded his successful admission through courts. 1st Black female to serve as federal judge. mississippitoday.org/2023/08/18/1...

#OnThisDay in 1959, innovative trumpeter Miles Davis released his album, “Kind of Blue,” profoundly influencing jazz, rock & classical music. Many critics regard it as the most outstanding jazz album ever released. Received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. mississippitoday.org/2024/08/17/1...

#OnThisDay in 1938, legendary bluesman Robert Johnson died at 27. Legend has it that he went to a Mississippi Delta crossroads and sold his soul to the devil in exchange for playing guitar. His blues helped inspire the R&B & rock'n'roll that followed. mississippitoday.org/2024/08/16/1...

Best-selling author Greg Iles died today. He was an absolute ball of fire, a mind that went from 0 to 90 in just a few seconds. I will definitely miss him! mississippitoday.org/2025/08/15/a...

#OnThisDay in 1906, the Niagara Movement, forerunner to NAACP, called for enforcement of 13th-15th Amendments: “The Negro race in America ... needs help and is given hindrance, needs protection and is given mob-violence ... needs bread and is given a stone.” mississippitoday.org/2024/08/15/1...

#OnThisDay in 1908, about 5,000 white men in Springfield, Illinois, wanted to lynch two Black men in jail. When the mob discovered the men had been moved, they began to terrorize Black Americans & their supporters, killing 16+. Massacre inspired NAACP's creation. mississippitoday.org/2024/08/14/1...

#OnThisDay in 1954, Lamar Smith, a WWI veteran who organized Black Americans to vote, was shot dead on the courthouse lawn in Brookhaven, Mississippi. An all-white grand jury refused to indict, despite the fact the sheriff saw the killer covered in blood. mississippitoday.org/2024/08/13/1...

#OnThisDay in 1932, comedian & civil rights activist Dick Gregory was born in St. Louis. 1st Black comic to talk on “Tonight Show.” When he heard surplus food was cut off to Mississippi Delta in 1963, he sent 14K lbs of food. Arrested w/ protesters in Greenwood. mississippitoday.org/2024/10/12/o...

#OnThisDay in 1921, Alex Haley, the author of “Roots” and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, was born in Ithaca NY. His interview with Malcolm X became a highly regarded 1965 book on the civil rights leader before he experienced the immense success of “Roots.” mississippitoday.org/2024/08/11/1...

#OnThisDay in 1920, Mamie Smith sang “Crazy Blues,” detailing the “outrage by a woman driven mad by mistreatment,” music critic David Hajdu wrote in the NYT. The song popularized the blues, selling 2M+ copies and paving the way for other Black female performers. mississippitoday.org/2024/08/10/1...

#OnThisDay in 1936, Jesse Owens won his 4th gold medal as part of the 4×100-meter relay team. The success of him and other Black athletes defeated Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s plans to showcase “Aryan superiority.” mississippitoday.org/2024/08/09/1...

#OnThisDay in 1925, 30,000 KKK members marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. The group reached 4M, tapping into fears surrounding immigration. The states with the most members were IN, OH, TX, PA, IL, OK & NY & even served in legislatures. mississippitoday.org/2023/08/08/1...

#OnThisDay in 1904, diplomat Ralph Bunche was born in Detroit. He was a member of the “Black Cabinet,” which #FDR consulted on minority issues. He negotiated the 1948 armistice agreements between Israel & Arab states. Received Nobel Peace Prize. mississippitoday.org/2024/08/07/1...

#OnThisDay in 1963, a 1,000 Black Mississippians defied arrest and KKK threats by the KKK to cast protest votes in Mississippi. “I had fear in my heart,” said activist Billie Johnson b/c she knew police would beat her. When they didn't, she thanked God 3 times. mississippitoday.org/2024/08/06/1...

#OnThisDay in 1966, #MLK and others marched in Chicago to protest racial discrimination in housing. About 700 white counter-protesters threw bricks, bottles & rocks. Tension continued until Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley negotiated an agreement for fair housing. mississippitoday.org/2024/08/05/1...

#OnThisDay in 1901, Louis Armstrong, trumpeter known around the globe as “Satchmo,” was born in New Orleans. His inventive playing & gravelly voice reached far beyond jazz, prompting singer Bing Crosby to declare, “He is the beginning & end of music in America.” mississippitoday.org/2024/08/04/1...

#OnThisDay in 1979, Patricia Roberts Harris began serving as secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under President Jimmy Carter. 1st Black woman to serve in the presidential cabinet and 1st Black woman to enter the presidential line of succession. mississippitoday.org/2024/08/03/1...

#OnThisDay in 1924, James Baldwin was born in Harlem. His book “The Fire Next Time” became a best-seller. He wrote notes for a novel about Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. His words were captured in the 2016 documentary, “I Am Not Your Negro.” mississippitoday.org/2024/08/02/1...

#OnThisDay in 1974, Beverly Johnson became the first Black model to appear on the American cover of Vogue magazine. Her success led her TV & films. “There’s not a hair extension or a makeup artist that can make me feel the way I feel when I give back.” mississippitoday.org/2024/08/01/1...

We said goodbye Wed. to Air Force Sr. Master Sgt. Vernon Dahmer Jr. His father died defending his family from a KKK attack & he had to handle the funeral. “I didn’t have time to cry.” In 1998, a jury convicted the Klan leader. Vernon Jr. wept. mississippitoday.org/2025/07/31/s...

#OnThisDay in 1874, Patrick F. Healy was inaugurated as president of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Healy was the first African American to become president of a predominantly white university. Helped transform small college into a major university. mississippitoday.org/2024/07/31/1...

The Mississippi Highway Patrol suspended the state trooper who failed to obey a subpoena to testify in a DUI case involving the current son-in-law of Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey, Mississippi Today has learned. mississippitoday.org/2025/07/29/d...

#OnThisDay in 1910, after a series of lynchings, a massacre took place in Slocum TX, killing between 8 & 20+ Black Americans. “Men were going about killing Negroes as fast as they could find them,” the sheriff told The New York Times. No one was ever prosecuted. mississippitoday.org/2024/07/29/1...

#OnThisDay in 1917, 15K Black Americans marched in silence in NYC to protest lynchings. President Wilson refused to meet w/ Black leaders, who told him 2,800+ Black Americans had been lynched: “Not a single one has been punished for murder.” Wilson did nothing. mississippitoday.org/2024/07/28/1...

#OnThisDay in 1919, a melee between Black & white citizens began after a Black youth swam into "white" territory in Chicago & drowned: 38 died, 500+ were injured & 1,000 Black families lost their homes. That violence spread & became known as “Red Summer.” mississippitoday.org/2024/07/27/1...

#OnThisDay in 1948, President Truman abolished racial discrimination in the armed forces. “My stomach turned over when I learned that Negro soldiers, just back from overseas, were being dumped out of army trucks in Mississippi and beaten.” mississippitoday.org/2024/07/26/1...

Sad to hear of the passing of Vernon Dahmer Jr. His father died defending his family from KKK attack. The Sr. Master Sgt. handled the funeral, etc. "I didn't have time to cry." When a jury convicted KKK leader Sam Bowers of ordering his father's murder, tears flowed. He finally had time to cry.

#OnThisDay in 1964, Unita Blackwell became the Issaquena County delegate for the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which fought to replace the state’s all-white delegation. In 1976, she became the 1st Black woman to serve as a mayor in Mississippi’s history. mississippitoday.org/2024/07/25/1...

#OnThisDay in 1919, a white mob began assaulting random Black Americans after a white woman was allegedly attacked in Washington DC. By the time the violence ended, 39 were dead, 150 injured. Similar violence followed in 24+ cities against African Americans. mississippitoday.org/2024/07/24/1...

#OnThisDay in 1890, white men assassinated “Marsh” Cook after he criticized plans to “restore” white supremacy and strip Black Mississippians of the right to vote. A new constitution did what Cook predicted, and other Southern states followed Mississippi’s lead. mississippitoday.org/2024/07/23/1...

#OnThisDay in 1939, Jane Bolin became the first Black female judge in the United States when she was sworn in as a family judge in NYC. Discouraged from applying to Yale Law School, she graduated in the top 20, the 1st Black woman to graduate from that school. mississippitoday.org/2024/07/22/1...

#OnThisDay in 1963, when a National Guardsman poked his bayonet at Gloria Richardson in Cambridge MD, she pushed it away, refusing to back down. The image of her courageous stand appeared in newspapers around the world. The stand also inspired change. mississippitoday.org/2024/07/21/1...

#OnThisDay in 1950, African-American troops of the U.S. Army’s 24th Infantry Regiment began the offensive that enabled them to recapture Yechon, South Korea. It marked the first city restored to friendly hands. South Korean officials honored the regiment. mississippitoday.org/2024/07/20/1...

#OnThisDay in 1948, Dockum Drug Store in Wichita KS refused to serve Black patrons at its lunch counter, and students protested w/ sit-ins. Rexall, which owned the Dockum stores, halted discrimination at all lunch counters nationwide because of the protest. mississippitoday.org/2024/07/19/1...