The goal of seemingly every public policy in the South, and especially in Mississippi, as Medgar described it in his first report as NAACP field secretary in December 1954, was to keep “the Negro in his place . . . keep him out of white schools . . . keep the ballot out of his reach . . . [and] keep him dependent” 13 even though Black Mississippians comprised the majority in a number of counties, particularly in the Delta.
