Mississippi History Timeline

Wright served from 1948 to 1952.

Also known as the States’ Rights Democratic Party, the political party opposed racial integration and openly sought to keep the oppressive reality of Jim Crow entrenched in Southern culture.

A respected playwright, Williams also wrote The Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and other plays that appeared on Broadway and were made into films.  Williams was born in Columbus, Mississippi, on March 26, 1911, and lived briefly in Clarksdale, Mississippi, before moving to St. Louis, Missouri. He died in New York City on February 24, 1983.

Although most Mississippians had to wait until the state had a station in 1953, some enterprising citizens bought televisions and put up antennas to pick up the signals from stations in Memphis and New Orleans.

The lawsuit was filed against the Jackson schools for pay discrimination against Bates and other African American teachers.

Hubert Humphrey gave a controversial speech urging the party to adopt an anti-segregation platform. Thirty-five delegates from Alabama and Mississippi walked out of the convention.

Image:  An angry Mississippi delegate tore this flag from its staff as the Mississippi delegation walked out of the Democratic National Convention.

Governor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina was nominated as president of the States’ Rights Democratic Party and Governor Fielding Wright of Mississippi was nominated as vice president.