MID-SOUTH MEMORIES
25 years ago — 1996
Political activist Jesse Jackson plans to organize a protest at the Academy Awards ceremony, scheduled for March 25, over the lack of Black nominees. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times published Sunday, Jackson said the protest would be part of a larger campaign aimed at studios he claimed ignore Blacks and other minorities. This year’s Oscar list features one Black nominee. Previously the number of Black nominees has been higher.
50 years ago — 1971
JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Senate Wednesday voted overwhelmingly approval to a bill abolishing the armed trusty system at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman and reorganizing the state Prison Board “to get the penitentiary out of politics.” The senate, with surprising ease and little debate, passed and returned to the House an amended version of a bill that already had won strong approval there. 75 years ago — 1946
HOT SPRINGS – Six “bookies,” supposedly shut down more than a month ago through efforts of the state’s attorney general, Saturday were operating wide open and gleaning perhaps bigger profits than they have seen in many a year. Operating for the convenience of thousands of visitors who don’t have the desire to be pushed and shoved at Oaklawn Park, where eight races are run daily, these handbooks are making money hand over fist from the unfortunate pony players. There’s no secrecy about their business. It appears, however, the injunction merely was a farce. 100 years ago — 1921
NASHVILLE – Demagogy to the last degree, to say nothing of a lack of sincerity and an intelligent grasp of conditions, was charged up to Gov. Taylor and the new Republican administration by Senator Craig of Lauderdale, in a real old-fashioned raking over in the Senate this morning, the first from the Democratic side of the chamber since the Legislature convened two months ago. In a 40-minute speech, bristling with comment and criticism, Senator Craig insisted that if anything worthwhile was to be done for the State of Tennessee the Legislature would have to do it. “We cannot expect to receive sincere or intelligent assistance from the governor of Tennessee,” he declared.