Editing Oktibbeha County, Mississippi (section)

===20th century to present===
In 1912 Mann Hamilton, a black man, was accused of assaulting June Bell, a white woman, at Bell's school house near [[Maben, Mississippi|Maben]]. Although Sheriff Nickles tried to gain custody of the suspect, he was directed to the wrong location. Hamilton was captured, [[Lynching in the United States|lynched]], and hanged by a white mob without any trial.<ref name="Hamilton Lynching">{{cite news|title=A Quiet Lynching|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87065612/1912-02-16/ed-1/seq-1|access-date=December 18, 2017|publisher=The Starkville News|date=February 16, 1912}}</ref> This was one of six lynchings of African Americans committed by whites in the county in the post-Reconstruction period and extending into the early 20th century.<ref>[https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf "Supplement: Lynchings by County/ Mississippi: Oktihebba", 3rd edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023063004/https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf |date=October 23, 2017 }}, p. 7, from ''Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror'', 2015, Equal Justice Institute, Montgomery, Alabama</ref>

In 1960, seven black men from [[Little Rock, Arkansas]] used the only restroom at Weaver's Amoco in [[Osborn, Mississippi|Osborn]]; it was designated for whites only. They were arrested at Mayhew Junction in Lowndes County, and required to pay a $200 per person bond. According to the law, they faced a maximum penalty of six months in jail and fines of $500 each. The case was widely anticipated as the first test of the state's sit-in law, but was settled when the defendants unexpectedly pleaded guilty and paid small fines at the county court in Starkville the next day.<ref name="Weavers">{{cite news |title=Negro Group Enters White Cafe in State |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40975255/negro_group_enters_white_cafe_in_state/ |access-date=December 23, 2019 |via=Newspapers.com |newspaper=Clarion-Ledger |date=April 23, 1960}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Sitdowners' Guilty Pleas Bring $15 fine. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40975640/sitdowners_guilty_pleas_bring_15_fine/ |access-date=December 23, 2019 |via=Newspapers.com |location=Greenville, Mississippi |newspaper=The Delta Democrat-Times |date=April 24, 1960 |ref=Sitdowners}}</ref>

Since the late 20th century, Oktibbeha, along with [[Clay County, Mississippi|Clay]] and [[Lowndes County, Mississippi|Lowndes]] counties, has been designated as the [[Golden Triangle (Mississippi)|Golden Triangle]] in Mississippi. The three counties share a goal of collaborative economic development; they have had a history of rural and agricultural development.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.msstate.edu/about/history/|title=History|last=Team|first=ITS Web Development|website=Mississippi State University|language=en|access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref>