Set of 6.
Two each of Hartman Turnbow, Ozell Mitchell, and Alma Mitchell Carnegie.
These striking black and white images of grassroots leaders in the Civil Rights movement were taken by Sue Lorenzi Sojourner in 1969. The photographer lived in Holmes County, Mississippi, for five years as a white "outside agitator," assisting to register voters and desegregate schools. She writes of her friends, "Strong, growing, they lived through real danger and fear, survived and built one of the most effective grassroots movements in the state. They changed their lives-- and not just for each individually, but for all their people.
Hartman Turnbow farmed outside of Mileston, Mississippi. Shown here in a typical moment, Turnbow inspired (and scared) many with his fiery speeches. He led the "First 14" who registered to vote in Lexington in April of 1963. Firebombed by white nite riders, he fired back and was arrested for the arson of his own home.
Ozell Mitchell invited organizers from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to his small rural area in Holmes County, Mississippi, in March of 1963. He made many of the local arrangements to support their work, and participated in the first delegation to the county courthouse to register to vote.
Alma Mitchell Carnegie hid farm worker organizers in her home in the 1930s, and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee volunteers in the 1960s. At the age of 66, she risked her life to register to vote at the courthouse in Lexington, Mississippi. Important as a conscience, often too idealistic for others, she didn't try to lead as much as to follow the right path.
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