Biography
Frances Lee Wilson Canty was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on May 28, 1961, for participating in the Freedom Rides and challenging segregation in interstate transportation — one of the arrests recorded by the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission and preserved in the Civil Rights Digital Library. The catalog establishes the arrest, the participation, and the individually identified police photograph, but not the court disposition, any transfer to Parchman, or the physical release date; those fields are unresolved pending county-jail, court, or penitentiary records.
A family obituary reports that she was tried the following day, convicted of breach of the peace, fined $200, sentenced to 60 days, and transferred with other riders to the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman; her exact discharge date is not documented.
Her family obituary published by Preston Charles Funeral Home records her birth in 1937 and her death on November 21, 2022. The structured birth entry retains year precision. Source.
