Mississippi Civil Rights Project

History of the 82 counties

Background/History

The establishment of Lafayette County occurred on February 9, 1836, arising from the Chickasaw Cession. The town of Oxford, seat of justice for Lafayette County, was founded on June 22, 1836.

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W.R. Redmond, Jr.
The Reverend W.R. Redmond, Jr., served as pastor of the Burns United Methodist Church. In 1945, he organized the Oxford Training School football team.
Susie Marshall
Susie Marshall served over forty-one years from 1937 to 1978 as an educator in Oxford and Lafayette County.

Places

Freemantown
The area of Oxford between North 7th Street and 5th Street extending south from Price to Jackson Avenue was originally called Freemantown.

Events

Integration of Ole Miss
Date of Event:
September 30-October 1, 1962
Lafayette County is the home of the University of Mississippi in Oxford. With buzz growing around the campus of Ole Miss possibly integrating in 1962, a national spotlight was turned on the campus.
Protest for Black Studies Curriculum
Date of Event:
February 25, 1970
Eighty students and a black professor demonstrated for the establishment of a Black Studies program on February 25, 1970.
School Desegregation in Lafayette County
Date of Event:
1960s
From the 1950s through the 1970s, many things changed for African-Americans on both the national and local level.

Organizations

NAACP of Lafayette County
Nathan Hodges, Jr. and others founded the Oxford-Lafayette County branch of the NAACP in 1952 at Second Baptist Church originally under the title of the Lafayette County Improvement Club.
Churches of Lafayette County
Churches played a part in the Civil Rights Movement, such as Second Missionary Baptist Church and Burns Methodist Church in Oxford.
Political Parties of Lafayette
Black Democrats during the Reconstruction period in Lafayette County included Joseph Taylor, Jim Nelson, Jack Carter, William Frierson, and Newton Chilton.