630 Main St.
Hattiesburg, MS

Beginning on Freedom Day in 1964 and continuing throughout the summer, a “perpetual picket line” of peaceful demonstrators marched in front of the Forrest County Courthouse for African American voting rights.

The courthouse was the focus of the Civil Rights Movement in Hattiesburg. Pastors and leaders from all over the country travelled to Hattiesburg to join locals in their march here.

Reverend John Cameron, Sr. Pastor of Greater Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi, is a Hattiesburg native and was the director of the Hattiesburg ministerial organization that registered African Americans. He describes his experience on the audio tour. After, Daisy Harris Wade recounts the day her underage sons were arrested for being on the picket line.

Narrator: Cameron Rackley

Historical Narrations: Retelling by Demyus Martin on behalf of Rev. John Cameron. Daisy Harris Wade, provided by the University of Southern Mississippi Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage.

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