New Portraits

Freedom Riders Return to Parchman

In Mississippi Freedom 50th, New Portraits, Parchman on 24 May 2013 tagged Parchman with 1 comment

On May 25, 2011, as part of a week-long commemoration in Mississippi of the 1961 Freedom Rides, many of the Riders who had been incarcerated in Parchman that summer returned to the prison and toured Unit 17, the maximum security building where they had been locked up. David Fankhauser In 1961 Unit 17 was also […]

Dodie Smith-Simmons

In New Portraits on 4 May 2012 with Comments Off on Dodie Smith-Simmons

In 1961 Dodie Smith-Simmons wanted to be a Freedom Rider. A native of New Orleans, she had joined the local youth chapter of the NAACP at age 15. Now she was 18, a member of CORE and a veteran of marches and sit-in. But instead of going to Jackson and getting arrested, she worked behind […]