Outstanding Black Women of Yalobusha County
Stories of unsung black women who made or are making a difference in Yalobusha County, Mississippi
About the Picture
Aside from my grandmother, Jane Ophelia Williams Pritchard (Dec 20, 1871 – Sept 15, 1969) in the white bonnet, the names of the remaining women standing on the courthouse steps in Water Valley, Mississippi in the late 1800’s, are unknown. They are also holding similar bags in their hands. Contact us if you can identify any of them or have additional information.
The sculpture in the top left corner is entitled “Quaye” and was commissioned in 2022. Read more about this work of art:
FEATURE film
YALOBUSHA, A DOCUMENTARY
A Journal: Segregation in Mississippi — by law and an ironclad unspoken custom — circumscribed so many opportunities we now take for granted. Yet a group of women in Yalobusha County in the north central part of the state forged ahead in the only world they knew to make a profound impact on their families and the larger community. Too long unheralded, this documentary gives them their due – each an example of leadership displayed through the civic and religious organizations that helped Yalobusha’s black residents not only survive but thrive. Their testimonies and those of friends and neighbors illuminate an important chapter in Mississippi history.
FEATURE ARTICLE
A Transatlantic Exchange: Neglected Stories–Elevating Marginalized Narratives in the United States and Germany
“I am pleased to have completed a Transatlantic Exchange sponsored by the Gustav Stresemann Institut in Bad Bevensen, Germany. The title of the two-part program was Neglected Stories – Elevating Marginalized Narratives in the United States and Germany. The stories of the Black Women of Yalobusha were a perfect fit and not so different from the stories we heard in Hamburg and Berlin, Germany or Jackson, MS or Philadelphia, PA. This was a once in a lifetime experience I will cherish forever.” Dottie Chapman Reed
ACCOLADES
Media spotlight
did you know THAT. . .?
Emma Spencer Gooch Files/Mississippi Voter Registration and Education League, Yalobusha County, Mississippi Collection contains membership lists and cards, meeting minutes, and a few pieces of correspondence related to African American voter registration in the 1960s and creation of the racially integrated Mississippi Democratic Party
Emma Spencer Gooch’s Box Yalobusha Voters League of the Mississippi Democratic Party 1968-1970 (North Mississippi Herald, 12.28.2023)
projects & events
THE PROJECT – PHASE I
Dottie Chapman Reed launched this project to compile and share information about black women in Yalobusha County who made an impact on the African American community. Her column appeared bi-monthly in the North Mississippi Herald.
THE PROJECT – PHASE II
Expanded to include additional published articles about families and men, Project II is current and ongoing. Earlier articles, featuring the Love, Brown and Russell families, are located under the Family Histories tab. Our oral history project, Black Families of Yalobusha, which grew out of the newspaper column, consists of interviews conducted by graduate students at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, under the direction of Dr. Jessica Wilkerson and can be found at egrove.olemiss.edu.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Stay tuned for updates!
About the Author
DOTTIE QUAYE CHAPMAN REED
A native of Water Valley, Mississippi and graduate of the University of Mississippi now residing in Stone Mountain, Georgia, Dottie retired from a career in education and corporate America. Aside from recruiting for her alma mater for three years she worked for East Tennessee State University, The Wall Street Journal and McGraw-Hill before starting her own business. She continues to work as a business development consultant and columnist.
Black Women of Yalobusha County, Mississippi 