Hattiesburg Election contest brings up memories of civil rights-era struggles

Hattiesburg Election contest brings up memories of civil rights-era struggles

When court proceedings in Ware v. DuPree strike up again this week at Forrest County Courthouse, Raylawni Branch will be there.

“I’m probably a little more radical than most people my age. I don’t believe in sitting back,” said Branch, who was one of two black students to integrate the University of Southern Mississippi during the mid 1960s.

So too will Jeanette Smith, whose late husband C.E. Smith was president of the Forrest County chapter of the NAACP during the 1960s.

“We just want to sit down and see what’s going on,” she said.

Hattiesburg American
7/20/13