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Mississippi

Political repression plays out state by state — shaped by local institutions, prosecutors, and movements for defense. These are the documented political prisoners and cases the census holds for Mississippi.

454Documented
0In custody
390Released

Eras of repression in Mississippi

Where Mississippi’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.

1960s 410 1930s 18 1970s 10 1950s 4 1910s 4 2010s 2

Documented cases

454 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.

William Andrew Wendt
Released
William Andrew Wendt was one of the fifteen Episcopal clergymen arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on September...
Robert Wesby
Released
Robert Wesby was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on June 8, 1961, for participating in the Freedom Rides and...
Lula Mae White
Released
Lula Mae White, a twenty-two-year-old Chicago schoolteacher who had traveled from Montgomery, was arrested in...
Melvin Lorenzo White
Released
Melvin Lorenzo White was nineteen when he traveled from Montgomery to Jackson and was arrested at the Jackson...
Douglas Albert Williams
Released
Douglas Albert Williams was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on July 15, 1961, for participating in the Freed...
Ralph Alan Williams
Released
Ralph Alan Williams was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on July 23, 1961, for participating in the Freedom R...
Helene Dorothy Wilson
Released
Helene Dorothy Wilson was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on June 8, 1961, for participating in the Freedom...
Jack Mikhail Wolfson
Released
Jack Mikhail Wolfson was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on July 15, 1961, for participating in the Freedom...
Lewell A. Woods Jr.
Released
Lewell A. Woods Jr. was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on June 10, 1961, for participating in the Freedom R...
Vernon Powell Woodward
Released
Vernon Powell Woodward was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on July 30, 1961, for participating in the Freedo...
Leslie Word
Released
Leslie Word was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on June 2, 1961, for participating in the Freedom Rides and...
Tanya Wren
Released
Tanya Wren was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on July 30, 1961, for participating in the Freedom Rides and...
Clarence Melvin Wright
Released
Clarence Melvin Wright was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on May 28, 1961, for participating in the Freedom...
Leroy Glenn Wright
Released
Leroy Glenn Wright was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on May 24, 1961, for participating in the Freedom Rid...
Elizabeth Porter Wyckoff
Released
Elizabeth Porter Wyckoff was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on June 2, 1961, for participating in the Freed...
Merrill Orne Young
Released
Merrill Orne Young was one of the fifteen Episcopal clergymen arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on September 1...
Paul Edward Young
Released
Paul Edward Young was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on July 7, 1961, for participating in a nonviolent sit...
Robert Zellner
Released
Robert Zellner was a SNCC field secretary — the only white participant in the Oct. 4, 1961 McComb, Mississippi...
Ellen Lee Ziskind
Released
Ellen Lee Ziskind was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on July 29, 1961, for participating in the Freedom Rid...
Richard Lewis Zuchman
Released
Richard Lewis Zuchman was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on July 16, 1961, for participating in the Freedom...
J
Johnny Craft
Johnny Craft appears in a prisoner-aid committee list published by Laisvė on December 19, 1953. The article id...
R
Rev. E. R. Franklin
Rev. E. R. Franklin was a Black minister jailed in Mississippi after distributing The Crisis. Frederick G. Det...
C
Clyde Kennard
Released
Clyde Kennard was the subject of a SNCC campaign demanding his release from Parchman after his efforts to ente...
L
Louis Allen
Louis Allen was a logger and witness to Herbert Lee’s murder in Liberty, Mississippi. His detention in Novembe...

Institutions in Mississippi

Prisons, jails, and detention centers in Mississippi that appear in the census’s case files.

Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman)
11 cases
Mississippi state and federal courtsJackson, Mississippi
10 cases
Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman Farm)Sunflower County, Mississippi
5 cases
Montgomery County Jail (Winona, MS)Winona, Mississippi
4 cases
Hinds County Jail / Laurel CourthouseLaurel, Mississippi
1 case
Pike County Jail / Magnolia (McComb, MS)Magnolia, Mississippi
1 case
Hinds County Jail (Jackson, MS)Jackson, Mississippi
1 case
Mississippi State Penitentiary at ParchmanParchman, Mississippi
1 case