The Leflore County branch of the NAACP and the Greenwood Voters League will hold an event Thursday to mark the 50 years since James Meredith’s March Against Fear came through Greenwood.
The gathering will be held in Broad Street Park and is set to begin at 9 a.m. and conclude around noon.
State Sen. David Jordan, president of the Voters League, said the event will focus on Greenwood’s substantial role in the civil rights movement.
Jordan said he will play clips from “Historic Greenwood,” a record he received from the Smithsonian Institution. On the record are the voices of several civil rights activist of the 1960s, including Fannie Lou Hamer’s. “She’s one of the great Delta persons,” Jordan said
Several speakers have been invited to tell their stories of the movement. They include Charles McLaurin, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee coordinator; Solomon Osborne, a former Leflore County judge; and attorney Alvin Chambliss.
Osborne said he doesn’t have a script written, but he plans to give recognition to Greenwood natives who often go unrecognized.
Osborne was involved with civil rights litigation and remembers having to file suits against several Delta cities. Osborne represented June Johnson when she sued the city for discriminatory hiring practices.
Meredith and Charles Evers — the brother of Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers, who was assassinated by Greenwood’s Byron De La Beckwith — have also been invited.
Evers, 93, said he would do his best to be at the park. When asked if he could’ve ever imagined such a celebration 50 years ago, Evers chuckled, “No indeed!”
Local people who were at Broad Street Park on the day that Stokely Carmichael gave his “Call to Black Power” speech also are welcome to speak, Jordan said.
There will also be a panel discussion featuring several local pastors on the role of the church in the civil rights movement.
Hot dogs and drinks will be served at the event, and the Melody Kings, a local gospel group, will perform.
• Contact Chloe Ricks at 581-7124 or nrogers@gwcommonwealth.com.
