Editing Indianola, Mississippi (section)

==History==
On June 30, 1874 the town was surveyed and on April 14, 1885 an addition was made from the land of G. W. Faison.<ref>Chancery Clerk's Office. Direct Index to Deeds. Land Deed Record Book F, page 107. Sunflower County Courthouse.</ref> The population of the town was 1098 in 1900.<ref>Rand McNally and Company. Rand McNally & Co.'s Indexed County and Township Pocket Map and Shippers' Guide of Mississippi .. Rand McNally & Co, 1913.</ref> In 1891, [[Minnie M. Cox]] was appointed postmaster of Indianola, becoming the first black female postmaster in the United States. Her rank was raised from fourth class to third class in 1900, and she was appointed to a full four-year term. Cox's position was one of the most respected and lucrative public posts in Indianola, as it served approximately 3,000 patrons and paid $1,100 annually, then a large sum. White resentment to Cox's prestigious position began to grow, and in 1902 some white residents in Indianola drew up a petition requesting Cox's resignation. [[James K. Vardaman]], editor of ''[[The Greenwood Commonwealth]]'' and a white supremacist, began delivering speeches reproaching the people of Indianola for "tolerating a negro wench as a postmaster."<ref>{{cite web |last=Deanna Boyd and Kendra Chen |title=Minnie M. Cox: A Postmaster's Story |work=The History and Experience of African Americans in America's Postal Service |publisher=Smithsonian National Postal Museum |url=http://postalmuseum.si.edu/AfricanAmericanHistory/p4.html |access-date=2013-04-03 |archive-date=2016-04-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420162412/http://postalmuseum.si.edu/AfricanAmericanHistory/p4.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Racial tensions grew, and threats of physical harm led Cox to submit her resignation to take effect on January 1, 1903. The incident attracted national attention, and President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] refused to accept her resignation, feeling Cox had been wronged, and the authority of the federal government was being compromised. "Roosevelt stood resolute. Unless Cox's detractors could prove a reason for her dismissal other than the color of her skin, she would remain the Indianola postmistress."<ref>{{cite book |last=Williams, Horace Randall and Ben Beard |title=This Day in Civil Rights History |publisher=New South Books |year=2009 |page=49}}</ref>

Roosevelt closed Indianola's post office on January 2, 1903, and rerouted mail to Greenville; Cox continued to receive her salary. The same month, the United States Senate debated the Indianola postal event for four hours, and Cox left Indianola for her own safety and did not return. In February 1904, the post office was reopened but was demoted in rank from third class to fourth class.<ref>{{cite web |title=Minnie Cox: A First for Mississippi |publisher=African American Registry |url=http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/minnie-cox-first-mississippi |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207034103/http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/minnie-cox-first-mississippi |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-02-07}}</ref>

In July 1954, two months after the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] announced its unanimous decision in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]],'' ruling that school segregation was unconstitutional, the local plantation manager [[Robert B. Patterson]] met with a group of like-minded people in a private home in Indianola to form the [[Citizens' Councils|White Citizens' Council]].<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Gene Roberts (journalist)|Roberts, Gene]] and [[Hank Klibanoff]] |title=[[The Race Beat|The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation]] |publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf]] |place=New York |year=2006 |isbn=0-679-40381-7 |page=66}}</ref>

In May 2023, the police's [[shooting of Aderrien Murry]], an 11-year-old, occurred in the city.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/rcna86313 |date=May 25, 2023 |title=Investigation launched after 11-year-old who called 911 for help is shot by officer in Mississippi |work=[[NBC News]] |access-date=May 26, 2023 |first1=Antonio |last1=Planas |first2=Lindsey |last2=Pipia |archive-date=May 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526114119/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/rcna86313 |url-status=live }}</ref>