Editing McComb, Mississippi (section)

===20th century===
The rail center in McComb was one of flashpoints in the violent [[Illinois Central shopmen's strike of 1911]].  Riots took place here that resulted in many injuries, at least three black strikebreakers killed, and authorities bringing in state militia to suppress the emergency soon after the strike started on September 30.<ref>{{cite book|title=Industrial Relations: Final Report and Testimony, United States Commission on Industrial Relations|date=1916|pages=9714–9719|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4aMsAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA9714|access-date=1 April 2016}}</ref>

During the 1960s, McComb and nearby areas were the sites of extreme violence by [[KKK]] and other white supremacist opponents to the [[Civil Rights Movement]]. In 1961, [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee|SNCC]] conducted its first voter registration project in Mississippi in this city. White officials and local [[Ku Klux Klan|KKK]] members countered it with violence and intimidation to suppress black voters.

In 1961, [[Brenda Travis]], Robert Talbert, and Ike Lewis were arrested for staging a sit in at a Greyhound station. They were charged with trespassing and kept in jail for 28 days. Following their release, Travis was expelled from school. In response to the expulsion and the murder of Herbert Lee, 115 students staged a walk out on October 4, 1961, known as the [[Brenda Travis|Burglund High School Walk Out]]. At the walk out, many students were beaten by the police and arrested. Students continued protesting by refusing to return to school until Travis was allowed to reenroll. As a result, they too were expelled. The 16 seniors who participated were unable to graduate. Travis' fate for participating in the march was more serious. Travis was arrested, again, and sent to a state juvenile facility without a trial. After {{frac|6|1|2}} months, Travis was released by the governor and exiled from Mississippi.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Better Late Than Never|url=http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2006/jun/28/better-late-than-never/|last=Collier|first=Natalie A.|website=www.jacksonfreepress.com|language=en|access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Burglund High School students walkout|url=https://snccdigital.org/events/burglund-high-school-student-walkout/|website=SNCC Digital Gateway|language=en|access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Brenda Travis|url=https://snccdigital.org/people/brenda-travis/|website=SNCC Digital Gateway|language=en|access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref>

After whites severely beat several staff members, staff members being jailed for their involvement with the walkout, and receiving backlash from the community for putting students on the "frontlines", SNCC pulled out of the region in early 1962. They moved north in Mississippi to work in slightly less dangerous conditions.<ref>{{Cite web|title=SNCC leaves McComb|url=https://snccdigital.org/events/sncc-leaves-mccomb/|website=SNCC Digital Gateway|language=en|access-date=2020-05-10}}</ref>

In 1964, civil rights activists began the Mississippi Project and what would be called [[Freedom Summer]], with teams returning to southwest Mississippi. They sang, "We'll Never Turn Back." SNCC members of the [[Council of Federated Organizations]] (COFO) returned to McComb in mid-July 1964 to work on voter registration. From late August 1964 through September, after passage of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]], McComb was the site of eleven bombings directed against African Americans.<ref name="cummings">[http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1964/9/30/11-new-bombings-continue-long-legacy/ Peter Cummings, "11 New Bombings Continue Long Legacy of Violence In Southwestern Mississippi", First of three articles], ''The Crimson (Harvard)'', 30 September 1964, accessed 11 January 2015</ref> [[Malcolm Boyd]] took part of [[COFO]]'s Freedom House as a member of a clerical delegation to assist African-American voter registration.

The following summer, Congress passed the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]] authorizing federal oversight and enforcement to enable blacks to register and vote again in the South. In Mississippi, most blacks had been [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchised]] since 1890. Even with enforcement, it took time to overcome local white resistance to black voting.

On January 10, 1975, during the [[Great Storm of 1975]], an F4 tornado caused major damage to 38 blocks in the city, severely damaging or destroying many homes, businesses, vehicles, and trees within the town and surrounding areas along the tornado's track. The tornado killed 9 people and injured 210 others along its {{convert|56.5|mi|km|adj=mid}} path.<ref>{{cite journal |ref={{harvid|Storm Data|1975}} |author1=[[National Weather Service]] |date=January 1975 |title=Storm Data and Unusual Weather Phenomena |journal=[[Storm Data]] |volume=17 |issue=1 |publisher=National Climatic Data Center |location=[[Asheville, North Carolina]]|url=https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/IPS/sd/sd.html}}</ref>{{rp|pages=|page=10}}

On October 20, 1977, a chartered plane carrying members and crew of rock band [[Lynyrd Skynyrd]] crashed in a swamp near McComb, killing lead singer [[Ronnie Van Zant]], guitarist [[Steve Gaines]], Steve's sister [[Cassie Gaines|Cassie]] (a backup singer), road manager Dean Kilpatrick, as well as both  pilots.