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| Affiliation | Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party |
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| Name | Victoria Jackson Gray Adams |
| Address |
Hattiesburg, Mississippi , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
November 05, 1926
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| Died | August 12, 2006
(79 years)
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| Contributor | 411 Name Removed |
| Last Modifed | Juan Croniqueur
Mar 05, 2024 02:52am |
| Tags |
Black -
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| Info | Victoria Jackson Gray Adams is a native of Hattiesburg and one of the most important persons in the Civil Rights Movement at the local, state, and national level.
Born and reared in Palmer's Crossing, a historically Black community near Hattiesburg, Victoria Jackson Gray Adams, inspired by the examples of Clyde Kennard and Vernon Dahmer, was a community activist in the Hattiesburg area even before the arrival in the state of national Civil Rights workers. Mrs. Adams, a young mother and businesswoman in Hattiesburg in the early sixties, began her Civil Rights work by teaching voter registration and literacy classes that assisted other African Americans to pass the voter registration test requiring interpretation of the state constitution. At that time, although 30 percent of Hattiesburg's citizens were African Americans, only 50 of them had been allowed to register to vote. Today, the state of Mississippi has more black elected officials than any other state, partly because of the efforts of Victoria Adams.
When Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizers Hollis Watkins and Curtis Hayes arrived in Hattiesburg in 1962, Adams became a participant in their voter registration work; and when they left for the Delta, she assumed their Hattiesburg responsibilities becoming a Field Secretary, building a network of local support that would come to full fruition during Freedom Summer 1964.
During Freedom Summer approximately one thousand people from all over the country responded to the call of SNCC, CORE, SCLC, and the NAACP under the umbrella organization the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) to come to Mississippi to assist African Americans to demand peacefully their full rights as citizens. Adams, although married with small children to care for, became a full-time Civil Rights activist, assisted by her husband Tony Gray, her brother Glodies Jackson, and other members of the Jackson family, who provided homes and meals for the Freedom Summer volunteers.
Recognizing that the regular Democratic Party in Mississippi did not welcome the participation of Blacks, Adams and others organized the alternative Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), which registered to vote in straw polls over 80,000 Black Mississippians, thereby refuting the belief of segregationists that blacks would not vote even if given the opportunity.
Although the history-making MFDP challenge to the national Democratic Party at the 1964 Presidential convention in Atlantic City failed to unseat all-white party regulars, the results of Freedom Summer and the activities of Gray and other Civil Rights activists changed America fundamentally, opening up American culture politically, economically, and socially to full participation by all citizens.
Mrs. Adams' long list of distinctive service includes being the first woman to run for the U.S. Senate on the MFDP ticket contesting the seat of Senator John Stennis and being a MFDP delegate to the Democratic Presidential Nominating Convention in August 1964 in Atlantic City New Jersey. With Fannie Lou Hamer and legendary SNCC Field Secretary Bob Moses, she led the challenge to the all-white Mississippi delegation at the Convention. In 1968, Mrs. Adams, Mrs. Hamer and Ms. Devine were the first three women invited to be seated guests on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Mrs. Adams was also a member of the board of Rev. Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She is a recipient of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Services Award and the Fannie Lou Hamer Humanitarian Award.
Victoria Jackson Gray Adams has devoted her life to the cause of human rights. Though she recently retired as Campus Minister at Virginia State University in Petersburg, where she lives with her husband Reuben Adams, Jr., Mrs. Adams continues a busy schedule of community service and lectures. In June, 1999, she was the honored guest of Southern Miss at the 35th anniversary commemoration of Freedom Summer, participated in USM's Freedom Summer symposium, and was honored by the IHL Board with a resolution recognizing her life's work. In February 2000 Mrs. Adams presented the University Forum lecture in honor of Elaine Armstrong and Raylawni Branch, the first two African Americans to be admitted to USM. During Spring 2000 Mrs. Adams and her son Dr. Cecil Gray taught a "Studies in Civil Rights" history class at USM. Mrs. Adams is a Board Member of the Fannie Lou Hamer Project and will be honored at the 5th Annual Fannie Lou Hamer Celebration at The Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden in Ruleville, MS on October 2, 2004 for her life long dedication to equality, freedom and justice.
When asked how long she plans to continue such an active life, she replies, "As long as I'm walking." Her motto is, "Life shrinks or expands in direct proportion to the courage with which we live it."
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