Nine Black College Students Were Arrested in 1961 for Reading at a Segregated Public Library. Their Contributions to the Civil Rights Movement Have Long Been Overlooked; Smithsonian Magazine, March 26, 2026

 Kayla Randall - Digital Editor, Museums, Smithsonian Magazine; Nine Black College Students Were Arrested in 1961 for Reading at a Segregated Public Library. Their Contributions to the Civil Rights Movement Have Long Been Overlooked

"When nine Black college students walked into a segregated public library in Mississippi on March 27, 1961, they knew what to expect next: Staff would call the police, and they would probably be arrested if they refused to leave. According to local laws, being Black in a space designated only for the white public constituted a breach of peace. By stepping through the doors of the Jackson Municipal Library, they would be risking physical harm and verbal abuse. They might even face an angry crowd.

But the students, from the historically Black Tougaloo College, had trained for this moment. This was a sit-in, a nonviolent direct-action protest, and they were prepared. They’d been guided by the likes of Medgar Evers, the NAACP’s first Mississippi field officer, who was known for his public investigation into the murder of Emmett Till and his fight against Jim Crow laws in the state; Ernst Borinski, a Jewish lawyer who’d fled Nazi Germany, then accepted a position teaching sociology at Tougaloo after World War II; and Tougaloo chaplain John Mangram.

The civic-minded students wanted to effect change in Mississippi. Entering that library would boldly oppose the state’s unyielding system of segregation and highlight the disparities they experienced as Black residents."

Ridgeland Mayor Demands LGBTQ+ Book Purge, Threatens Library Funding; Mississippi Free Press, January 25, 2022

 Nick Judin Mississippi Free Press; Ridgeland Mayor Demands LGBTQ+ Book Purge, Threatens Library Funding

"Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee is withholding $110,000 of funding from the Madison County Library System allegedly on the basis of his personal religious beliefs, with library officials stating that he has demanded that the system initiate a purge of LGBTQ+ books before his office releases the money.

Tonja Johnson, executive director for the Madison County Library System, told the Mississippi Free Press in an afternoon interview that she first reached out to Mayor McGee after failing to receive the City of Ridgeland’s first quarterly payment of 2022.

Johnson said the mayor informed her that no payment was forthcoming. “He explained his opposition to what he called ‘homosexual materials’ in the library, that it went against his Christian beliefs, and that he would not release the money as the long as the materials were there,” the library director said.

The director then explained to the mayor that the library system, as a public entity, was not a religious institution. “I explained that we are a public library and we serve the entire community. I told him our collection reflects the diversity of our community,” Johnson said."

Leading businesses take stand against states' new anti-LGBT laws; Guardian, 4/10/16

Edward Helmore and Matt Kessler, Guardian; Leading businesses take stand against states' new anti-LGBT laws:

"Local business leaders and educators warned that the legislation could harm the state’s competitiveness in attracting business and investment. “These assholes talk about gay women and gay men using the exact same language they were using in the 50s and 60s for segregationist purposes,” said the award-winning chef John Currence, owner of several restaurants in Oxford, Mississippi. He warned that Mississippi’s HB1523, known as the Religious Liberty Accommodation Act, would put businesses off from setting up in the state.

“When people see this kind of regressive social politics going on, it affects the quality of life”, he said. The new laws, he added, “could not be any more vile or regressive”.

Ivo Kamps, a University of Mississippi English professor, warned the law “will have a chilling effect on our ability to recruit students and faculty”, despite the university chancellor’s assurance that nothing would change...

Academics say the current legislation, combined with the Citizens United bill of 2010 that in effect gave corporations the rights of citizens, has placed corporations at the forefront of efforts to contain the spread of ideologically extreme legislation."

Corporate Coalition Is Forming To Fight Mississippi’s Anti-LGBT Law; Huffington Post, 4/5/16

Alexander C. Kaufman, Huffington Post; Corporate Coalition Is Forming To Fight Mississippi’s Anti-LGBT Law:

"Yet another coalition of tech titans is forming to fight yet another discriminatory law in yet another Southern state.

Top executives from Salesforce, Microsoft and IBM decried on Tuesday a new “religious liberty” law passed in Mississippi that gay rights advocates say legalizes discrimination in the state based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

The public statements, little more than condemnations at the moment, could be the first step toward organizing a divestment campaign such as the one currently growing in North Carolina. The announcements came hours after another tech giant, PayPal, said it would cancel plans to expand in North Carolina — a move that was expected to bring about 400 jobs to the state — as a result of the Tar Heel State’s anti-LGBT law."

Human Rights Campaign Plans LGBT Equality Push In The South; Associated Press via HuffingtonPost.com, 4/26/14

Jay Reeves, Associated Press via HuffingtonPost.com; Human Rights Campaign Plans LGBT Equality Push In The South:

"A national organization is launching a three-year, $8.5 million campaign to promote LGBT equality and push for new legal protections in three Southern states.

The Washington-based Human Rights Campaign is planning what it calls the "Project One America" in Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi...

The activist group hopes that a campaign built on fostering conversations and dialogue will help ease resistance and make it easier to change laws."