Two -Day Exhibit Will Honor Yalobusha Voting Rights Pioneers
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In the fall of 2023 my Davidson High School classmate, Emma Faye Gooch, agreed to donate a box of her grandmother’s belongings to be archived, and at the time, I promised to make sure the contents would be shared with the folks in Yalobusha County. I am so happy to fulfill that promise when an exhibit from The Emma Spencer Gooch Collection – Mississippi Voter Registration Education League goes on view September 18-19 at the Bozart Gallery. The main event will be held on Saturday the 19th featuring the Gooch Family, representatives of the activists, various guest speakers and possibly voter registration.
The exhibit is drawn from the Gooch collection that opened in August 2024 at the University of Mississippi’s Archives and Special Collections in the J.D. Williams Library.
The collection contains a wealth of information about the fight for black voting rights in Yalobusha County: membership lists, Yalobusha County voter registration cards for the Mississippi Democratic Party, minutes of the meetings held at black churches throughout the county, correspondence related to African American voter registration in the 1960s and the creation of the racially integrated Mississippi Democratic Party in the 1970s including a letter from Aaron Henry, who was the chairman of the party.
All of these items are available because Mrs. Gooch preserved them and passed them down to her namesake to keep. Now it is time to share. In the midst of redistricting and the looming fall elections, what better time to be reminded of the hard work, blood, sweat and tears our elders endured to obtain and protect the right to vote for black folks in Yalobusha County and beyond.
Mrs. Gooch was the secretary for The Voters League of Yalobusha County, and Mrs. Annie Hervey also took on some of the administrative duties. The General Laws of the Voters League Committee, which are among the items, show the key players. Robert Spencer, Mrs. Gooch’s brother, was the Acting Chair of the Committee. Additional members were Leroy Davidson, Loyd Caldwell, Stephen Brown and Annie Kelly Montgomery as the Acting Secretary.
According to the minutes, the committee held meetings from September 1968 to June 1970 at 11 black churches in Yalobusha County, specifically in Water Valley, Coffeeville, Oakland, and smaller communities like Tillatoba and Scobey: Miles Memorial Methodist, Sanders Chapel Baptist, Massey Groves, Spring Hill Missionary Baptist, Carrier’s Chapel, Preston Church, Persimmon Hill, Philadelphia, Robinson Chapel, Everdale Baptist and Smith Chapel.
Only half of these churches remain.
The minutes of the Voters League meetings cover attendance and monies and dues collected to pay the churches for use of their facilities, travel to state NAACP meetings and general expenses.
The collection contains approximately 150 membership cards for registered voters in Water Valley, Oakland, Coffeeville, Tillatoba and Scobey precincts. I recognize many of the names, and I knew several individuals personally. The majority, if not all, of these heroes and heroines are gone. But these cards and the 25-cent dues the members paid ($2.40 today), show us not only how they cherished the opportunity to register but also their commitment to protecting our right to vote and the sacrifices they willingly made.
The membership cards were triplicates, thus you may see two cards for your loved one. You can see their signatures and names on the handwritten rolls. I get emotional when I look at each name, imagining these citizens’ fear when they attended meetings, registered to vote, and had to drive home in the dark. By this time, Yalobusha County had earned a reputation as dangerous and racist – so much so that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was advised to avoid Yalobusha when he took up the march for James Meredith, who was shot when en route from Memphis to Jackson.
Time has brought changes, but we can neither forget nor ignore that we are facing and dealing with setbacks – efforts to take away important rights and to bury this history – a history that must be preserved.
Mark your calendars now for September 19th for the grand opening of the exhibition at the Bozart Gallery. Join me to honor Mrs. Emma Spencer Good, the Gooch Family and our loved ones who fought for our rights – our freedom – our future.
