William “Bud” McGee is remembered by his son, Lou Jones, as a calm man who worked to promote the cause of civil rights in Leflore County.
Mr. McGee died of heart failure Tuesday, May 24, 2022, at his Greenwood home. He was 81.
Born on May 4, 1941, Mr. McGee lived in Greenwood. He was known nationally for his activism, Jones said.
In Itta Bena, three historical markers mention Mr. McGee’s efforts as a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which organized students and young people to use nonviolent protests against segregation.
McGee and SNCC would hold voter registration drives and other civil rights meetings at Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, led at that time by the Rev. G.W. Hollins.
“It was the only church that would allow people to meet,” said Shannon Bowden, an instructor of speech and mass communications at Mississippi Valley State University. “A lot of people were scared at that time and wouldn’t allow people who were fighting for civil rights to meet due to the fear.”
She said the meetings at Hopewell included voter registration, reading lessons and teaching people about the tricks they may encounter to prevent them from voting.
On June 18, 1963, only days after the assassination of civil rights leader Medgar Evers in Jackson, a SNCC meeting at Hopewell was attacked with a tear gas bomb.
The attendees marched through Itta Bena in protest. Sheriff John Ed Cothran arrested 58, including Mr. McGee. Forty-five people were charged and imprisoned for two months.
According to one of the historical markers, the following year in 1964, Mr. McGee and two Freedom Summer volunteers, John Paul and Roy Torkington, were canvassing in Itta Bena. A group of white men confronted them and forced them to leave Itta Bena. Undeterred, Mr. McGee and the other activists continued their work.
Over the years, Mr. McGee held various jobs, including as a DJ at WNLA-AM in Indianola and as a tax preparer in Greenwood.
“I think I love Greenwood more than I love staying in Chicago,” he told The Washington Post in 1999 in an article in which he and others shared memories of the civil rights era. “You speak to somebody in Chicago, they look at you like you’re crazy.”
Jones recalled his father’s efforts as a tax preparer and remembers him helping one individual with a legal case and an issue with her disability payments.
“He had a calm, soft-spoken demeanor,” Jones said. “I’ve very rarely seen him express anything other than that. That’s how he went about it. He helped a lot of people as far as civil rights.”
Graveside services for Mr. McGee are scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Hudson Park Cemetery. Visitation will be from 1 to 6 p.m. Friday at Sanders & Sanders Funeral Home.
- Contact Kevin Edwards at 662-581-7233 or kedwards@gwcommonwealth.com.
