Biography
Mary Jean Smith was a nineteen-year-old Tennessee State University student when she joined the May 28, 1961 Freedom Ride from Nashville to Jackson, Mississippi. Police arrested her at the bus station, and a court imposed a sixty-day sentence. Smith was confined first in the Hinds County jail and then at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. She was released on bond after serving 39 days and returned home to learn that Tennessee State had expelled her for participating in the ride.
Calculated release date for the stay beginning May 28, 1961: July 6, 1961, adding the recorded completed custody duration of 39 days with elapsed-calendar-day counting. This is a calculated date from the recorded admission and duration, not a separately documented physical-discharge date.
Calculated release date
Calculated release date for the stay beginning May 28, 1961: July 6, 1961, adding the recorded completed custody duration of 39 days with elapsed-calendar-day counting. This is a calculated date from the recorded admission and duration, not a separately documented physical-discharge date.
