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Prominent Mississippi civil rights activist James Figgs dies [View all]
Source: Associated Press
MARCH 2, 2016 10:57 AM
Prominent Mississippi civil rights activist James Figgs dies
BY NASSIM BENCHAABANE
Associated Press
JACKSON, MISS. - James Figgs, a longtime community organizer in the Mississippi Delta who was known for playing crucial supporting roles in the 1960s civil rights movement and beyond, has died. He was 72.
Figgs died Monday at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oxford, according to Lafayette County Coroner Rocky Kennedy.
In his youth, Figgs led activist groups in his hometown of Marks and in Quitman County, including the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and the Freedom Riders, who rode interstate buses to protest segregation. He helped register black voters for the 1964 election and he organized local efforts in the "Poor People's Campaign" for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Figgs later became one of the first high-ranking African-American employees in the Mississippi state auditor's office, working under Auditor Pete Johnson in the late 1980s.
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Prominent Mississippi civil rights activist James Figgs dies
BY NASSIM BENCHAABANE
Associated Press
JACKSON, MISS. - James Figgs, a longtime community organizer in the Mississippi Delta who was known for playing crucial supporting roles in the 1960s civil rights movement and beyond, has died. He was 72.
Figgs died Monday at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oxford, according to Lafayette County Coroner Rocky Kennedy.
In his youth, Figgs led activist groups in his hometown of Marks and in Quitman County, including the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and the Freedom Riders, who rode interstate buses to protest segregation. He helped register black voters for the 1964 election and he organized local efforts in the "Poor People's Campaign" for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Figgs later became one of the first high-ranking African-American employees in the Mississippi state auditor's office, working under Auditor Pete Johnson in the late 1980s.
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Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/news/state/mississippi/article63561542.html
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