Bill Text: MS HC111 | 2013 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: The Holmes County Civil Rights Movement; commemorate 50th Anniversary of the beginning of and recognize Mr. and Mrs. Sojourner.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Failed) 2013-04-04 - Died In Committee [HC111 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2013-HC111-Engrossed.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2013 Regular Session
To: Rules
By: Representative Clark
House Concurrent Resolution 111
(As Adopted by House)
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION COMMEMORATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BEGINNING OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN HOLMES COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI, AND RECOGNIZING THE SOCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF SUE LORENZI SOJOURNER AND HER LATE HUSBAND HENRY LORENZI SOJOURNER.
WHEREAS, on March 28-29, 2013, the citizens of Holmes County, Mississippi, will commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the events which were the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in that county; special honoree for this commemoration will be Mrs. Sue Lorenzi Sojourner, who, along with her late husband, Henry Lorenzi Sojourner, were veterans of the movement working from the fall of 1964 to the summer of 1969 to help the black Holmes County Mississippians build a viable, powerful and effective political and social movement; and
WHEREAS, the world's eyes were on Mississippi during the summer of 1964, when civil rights activists launched an ambitious African-American voter registration project and were met with violent resistance from white supremacists; Sue Sojourner and her husband arrived in Holmes County, Mississippi, in the wake of this historic time, known as "Freedom Summer"; and
WHEREAS, from September 1964 until her departure from the state in 1969, Sojourner collected an incredible number of documents, oral histories and photographs chronicling the dramatic events that she witnessed; in a remarkable book, Thunder of Freedom, Sue Sojourner and Cheryl Reitan present a fascinating account of one of the Civil Rights Movement's most active and broad-based community organizing operations in the South, the book was published in January 2013 by the University Press of Kentucky, and Sue has produced two photography exhibitions using reproductions of her original 1960s photographs; and
WHEREAS, Thunder of Freedom unites Sojourner's personal experiences with her insights regarding the dynamics of race relations in the 1960s South, providing readers with a unique look at the struggle for rights and equality in Mississippi; illustrated with selections from Sojourner's acclaimed catalog of photographs, this profound book tells the powerful, often intimate stories of ordinary people who accomplished extraordinary things; and
WHEREAS, in 1972, Henry and Sue legally changed their names from Lorenzi to Sojourner in honor of the history of abolitionist Sojourner Truth, and Sue signed her Holmes County photography and writing work as "Sue [Lorenzi] Sojourner"; and
WHEREAS, Sue Sojourner's account of her mid-1960s work in Holmes County, Mississippi, is an important, engaging manuscript and one that speaks to a number of significant themes and topics in the scholarship of the Civil Rights Movement; and
WHEREAS, it is the policy of this Legislature to recognize the historical context and significance of the Civil Rights Movement and these civil rights activists who ignited the consciousness of America to its responsibilities:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE SENATE CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in Holmes County, Mississippi, and recognize the social contributions of Sue Lorenzi Sojourner and her late husband Henry Lorenzi Sojourner, and extend best wishes to the citizens of Holmes County, Mississippi, on their observation of these events.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be furnished to Mrs. Sue Sojourner and to the members of the Capitol Press Corps.
