Editing Hattiesburg, Mississippi (section)

===Civil rights movement===
Hattiesburg and the unincorporated [[African-American]] community of Palmers Crossing played a key role in the civil rights transitions of the 1960s.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sturkey|first=William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r8yJDwAAQBAJ|title=Hattiesburg: An American City in Black and White|date=2019|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-97635-1|language=en}}</ref> In 1959, black [[Korean War]] veteran [[Clyde Kennard]] applied to attend then all-white Mississippi Southern College (today [[University of Southern Mississippi]]). He was denied admission because of his race, as state colleges were legally segregated. When he persisted, the newly formed [[Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission]], a taxpayer-supported agency ostensibly set up to encourage tourism, conspired to have him framed for a crime. He was sentenced to seven years in [[Mississippi State Penitentiary|Parchman Prison]]. For years, [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] leaders [[Medgar Evers]], [[Vernon Dahmer]], and other Forrest County civil rights activists fought to overturn the conviction.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis59.htm#1959kennard |title=Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement - History & Timeline, 1959 |website=Crmvet.org |access-date=2016-08-10}}</ref> The MSSC conducted outrageous activities against citizens of the state: MSSC agents investigated citizens while the organization created blacklists of activists and black professionals who were suspected of working for civil rights, conducted economic boycotts against black-owned businesses, and arranged for blacks to be fired from state and local jobs. They also worked to have Black activists or suspected activists evicted from rental housing. All of this was conducted in secret, until later allegations of revelations brought the state's activities into the open.
[[File:March, King, April 8, 1968..jpg|thumb|right|upright|Memorial march in Hattiesburg in 1968, four days after the [[assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.]]]]

Forrest County Registrar [[Theron Lynd]] prevented blacks in the area from registering to vote, based on such devices in the state constitution as [[poll taxes]], and [[literacy test|literacy]] and comprehension tests, subjectively administered by whites. In 1960, thirty percent of the population in the county was black, but less than 1% of blacks had been able to register, regardless of their education level. Registration by whites was close to 100%. In 1961, the U.S. [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] filed suit against Lynd. He was the first southern registrar to be convicted under the [[Civil Rights Act of 1957]] for systematically violating African-American voting rights.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lib.usm.edu/~archives/m027.htm?m027text.htm~mainFrame|title=United States of America vs. Theron C. Lynd|publisher= University of Southern Mississippi|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041109230334/http://www.lib.usm.edu/~archives/m027.htm?m027text.htm~mainFrame |archive-date=9 November 2004}}</ref>

In 1962, the [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] (SNCC) began one of its first voter-registration projects in Hattiesburg under the auspices of the [[Council of Federated Organizations]] (COFO). By 1964, the [[Delta Ministry]] was active in the city. In cooperation with the NAACP and local civil rights leaders, they formed the Forrest County Voters League.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lib.usm.edu/~archives/crsitdoc.htm|title=Historic Sites of the Civil Rights Movement in Hattiesburg|publisher=University of Southern Mississippi|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010228005511/http://www.lib.usm.edu/~archives/crsitdoc.htm|archive-date=28 February 2001}}</ref> In conjunction with the 1963 elections, civil rights leaders organized a statewide [[1963 Freedom Ballot|Freedom Ballot]], a mock election that highlighted both the statewide pattern of voting rights discrimination and the strong desire of Mississippi blacks for the franchise. Despite the serious risk of both physical and economic retaliation, nearly half of Forrest County blacks participated, the highest turnout in the state.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crmvet.org/tim/tim63b.htm#1963msballot |title=Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement - History & Timeline, 1963 (July–December) |website=Crmvet.org |access-date=2016-08-10}}</ref>

January 22, 1964, was "Freedom Day" in Hattiesburg, a major voter registration effort supported by student demonstrators and 50 northern clergymen. For the first time since [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]], an inter-racial protest successfully picketed the courthouse for voting rights without being arrested. Roughly 100 African Americans attempted to register, though only a few were allowed into the courthouse. Fewer still succeeded in gaining entry on the rolls.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis64.htm#1964hburg |title=Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement - History & Timeline, 1964 (Jan-June) |website=Crmvet.org |access-date=2016-08-10}}</ref> Each day thereafter for many months, activists resumed the courthouse protest in what became known as the "Perpetual Picket."<ref>{{cite book|last=Branch|first=Taylor
|title=Pillar of Fire|url=https://archive.org/details/pillaroffireamer00bran|url-access=registration|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=1998|isbn=9780684808192
}}</ref>

During [[Freedom Summer]] in 1964, the Hattiesburg/Palmers Crossing project was the headquarters for all civil rights activity in [[Mississippi's 5th congressional district]]. This was the largest and most active site in the state, with more than 90 volunteers and 3,000 local participants. Hundreds of Forrest County blacks tried to register to vote at the courthouse, but blacks once again were prevented from doing so. More than 650 children and adults attended one of the seven [[Freedom Schools]] in Hattiesburg and Palmers Crossing, three freedom libraries were set up with donated books, and a community center was established. Many whites opposed civil rights efforts by blacks, and both summer volunteers and local African Americans endured arrests, beatings, firings, and evictions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Randall |first=Herbert |title=Faces of Freedom Summer |publisher=University of Alabama Press |year=2001}}</ref>

Forrest County was also a center of activity for the [[Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party]] (MFDP). It sent a slate of delegates to the National Democratic Convention in Atlantic City that year to challenge the seating of the all-white, pro-segregation delegates elected by the regular party in primaries from which African Americans had been largely excluded due to voter registration barriers. [[Victoria Gray Adams|Victoria Jackson Gray]] of Palmers Crossing ran on the MFDP ticket against incumbent Senator [[John C. Stennis|John Stennis]], and John Cameron of Hattiesburg ran for Representative in the 5th District. With few blacks having successfully been able to register to vote, these candidates did not have a realistic chance of victory. Nonetheless, their campaigns helped to encourage the further enfranchisement and political agency of black citizens.<ref>{{cite book |last=Carson |first=Clayborne |title=In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s |url=https://archive.org/details/instrugglesnccbl00cars_1 |url-access=registration |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1981|isbn=9780674447264 }}</ref>

Even after passage of the federal [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] and the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]], white resistance continued in Mississippi and Hattiesburg. On the night of January 10, 1966, the [[White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan]] attacked the Hattiesburg home of NAACP leader [[Vernon Dahmer]] with firebombs and gunfire. Dahmer was the most prominent black leader in the county and had been the primary civil rights leader for many years. Just prior to the attack, he had announced that he would help pay a $2 [[poll tax]] ({{Inflation|US|2|1966|fmt=eq}}) for black voters too poor to do so themselves. Dahmer held off the Klan with his rifle to give his wife, their three young children, and elderly aunt time to escape their burning home, but he died of burns and smoke inhalation the next day. His murder sparked large protest marches in Hattiesburg. A number of Klansmen were arrested for the crime, and four were eventually convicted. After four previous trials had ended in deadlocks, KKK Imperial Wizard [[Samuel Bowers]] was finally convicted in August 1998 for ordering the assassination of Dahmer. He was sentenced to life in prison.<ref>{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Townsend |title=Weary Feet, Rested Souls |url=https://archive.org/details/wearyfeetresteds00town |url-access=registration |publisher=W.W. Norton |year=1998}}</ref><ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/price&bowers/Bowers.htm Biography of Sam Bowers.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125100003/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/price%26bowers/Bowers.htm |date=2010-11-25}} University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Retrieved on April 24, 2008.</ref>

In 1970, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against trespass convictions of civil rights protesters in ''[[Adickes v. S.H. Kress Co.]]''. The case involved a [[sit-in]] at the [[lunch counter]] of the [[S. H. Kress & Co.]] downtown.