Hattiesburg, Miss. (WHLT) – A new civil rights marker has been added to the African American Historic District honoring all those who were involved in the Rev. I.C. Peay et al. vs. Luther Cox case.
The 1950s court case was a group of black men who filed the first lawsuit for black voting rights in Mississippi that succeeded in getting voting rights for African American people in the state.
The ceremony was held during the 15th annual Mobile Street Renaissance Festival in downtown Hattiesburg. The lawyer to make the marker happen was Glenda Funches. Ms. Funches said voting now is more easier than ever.
“When African American men were emancipated they knew the power in the ballot and we elected the first African American Senator to go to Congress he later became the president of Alcorn College. And we elected a US Representative like John Lynch and others so thats why they call the 1892 constitutional convention because they said they could not trust us with the ballot because we knew what to do. And we have that same prevailing attitude that they cant trust us with the ballot so they are putting all different types of mechanisms as they did right after reconstruction to suppress our votes and so we need to know our history we need to know whose shoulders we are standing on and we need to know its just so east today, you dont have to interpret, you dont have to read or interpret any constitutional provision. Only thing you have to do is fill out a questionnaire.”
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