Growing up in Dixie Springs, Paul Ott Carruth had two great passions: the Great Outdoors and making music. So it came as a shock when in 1967, Carruth learned that hardwood trees around the Leaf River were being intentionally poisoned. At the time, Carruth was gaining recognition as a singer on a Hattiesburg TV show.  He decided to combine his love of music and his love of nature to save those trees.

In this episode, Ott discusses how this decision led to a life devoted to protecting Mississippi's natural resources through songwriting. He also talks about his long association with the State Game and Fish Commission.

Paul Ott Carruth’s weekly radio and TV show Listen to the Eagle continues to celebrate and promote The Great Mississippi Outdoors.

In 1970, the Mississippi State Legislature passed the State Antiquities Act to preserve Mississippi historic sites and buildings for future generations. In this episode Elbert Hilliard, Director Emeritus of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History discusses the significance of the Antiquities Act.

Hilliard recalls their first preservation project and how in 1983, the Antiquities Act was amended to reflect the lessons learned in thirteen years of administering the law.

Hilliard points with pride to the many preservation successes made possible by the State Antiquities Act.

Lou Mallory of Natchez grew up on a small farm in the Red Hills of Georgia.  In the episode, she recalls how the family barely survived raising cotton, but were happy none the less.

She explains that her father used to make syrup from sugar cane as a way to earn extra money.  She remembers eating a lot of syrup when there was not much else.

Mallory learned to sew her own dresses out of necessity. She became a seamstress as an adult and her tailor shop was a Natchez fixture for 45 years until she retired in 1998.

(photo of sugar cane mill: The Florida Center for Instructional Technology, Univ. of South Florida)

Evelyn Gandy of Hattiesburg came from a politically active family. In this episode, she discusses her decision to consider a career in politics at an early age.

From 1947, when she was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives, to 1959 when she became the first woman elected to statewide office as treasurer, Gandy always tried to make whatever office she held more responsive to the people.It was a philosophy she carried from her position as Insurance Commissioner to when she was elected the first woman Lt. Governor in 1975.

Gandy credits her success in office to a desire to work with others and a respect for her predecessors.

Evelyn Gandy passed away on December 27, 2007.

After being nominated and passed over seven times for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, former NFL punter, Ray Guy, was used to waiting by the phone.  In this episode, he explains how the eighth time promised to be different.

Ensconced in his New York hotel room on Super Bowl weekend, Guy found himself sitting by the phone once again, wondering if this would finally be the year he got the call.

Ray Guy was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on August 2^nd, 2014.  He continues to work for his alma mater, Southern Miss.

William Ray Guy came to Hattiesburg, MS to play football for Southern Miss in 1970.  As punter for the Golden Eagles, Guy’s kicks were known for their distance and pinpoint accuracy.

In this episode, Guy discusses his decision to play for USM.  He also explains why for him, strategy was just as important as power.

In the 14 seasons Guy punted for the Oakland Raiders, the term hang-time was coined to describe his high, booming kicks.  He discusses why they were so high and the time he hit the Super Dome TV screen.

Ray Guy became the first punter to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August of 2014.

Chinese American, Professor John P Quon grew up living in the back of his family’s store in Moorhead, Mississippi. In this episode, he recalls slipping off and exploring the downtown area at a young age.

Every member of the Quon family was expected to help out in the store.  Quon remembers learning how to make change at the age of five. 

Eventually, the Quon family decided to buy a home in Moorhead.  He explains how an anonymous letter led his father to purchase a cotton farm instead.

In 1964, Dr. John P. Quon was a student at Ole’ Miss when he proposed to his college sweetheart, Freida Seu. Both were from Chinese-American families living in the Delta. In this episode, Quon recalls the traditional engagement negotiations that followed.

Quon describes the logistics involved in planning a wedding with an expected attendance of 1,200 family and friends. He walks us through the day’s events including the wedding ceremony and reception, as well as the banquet and traditional tea ceremony.

King Evans was a teenager, living with his family on the Vickland Plantation in Nitta Yuma, Mississippi, during the Great Flood of 1927. In this episode, he recalls how the water continued to rise after the levee north of Greenville broke on the morning of April 21^st. Evans also remembers the thousands of people displaced by the floodwaters and the desperate lengths they went to for shelter. 

Racial tensions flared as mistreatment of blacks was reported in other places, but according to Evans, whites and blacks worked together in Sharkey County to insure fair distribution of food.

In 1966 the faculty at the Mercy Hospital College of Nursing in Vicksburg recognized the need for a second nursing baccalaureate program in Mississippi.

This group of Catholic nuns, led by Dr. Elizabeth Harkins, was determined to establish a College of Nursing at USM. In this episode, retired instructor Jean Haspeslagh remembers Harkins as a force to be reckoned with.

Haspeslagh explains how Harkins designed the College of Nursing’s Graduate program to be unique and cutting edge.

After her retirement in 1980, Harkins continued to serve as Dean Emeritus until her death in 1997.  Haspeslagh recalls that Harkins signed her last grant for the Sister’s of Mercy the day before she passes away.

Construction began on the new USM College of Nursing building in July, 2014.

The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was organized in 1964 as an alternative to the then-all-white Mississippi Democratic Party.

The MFDP, after holding a statewide election open to people of all colors, sent its delegates to the 1964 Democratic National Convention in an attempt to be recognized as the legitimate representatives of the State.

In this episode, Dr. Aaron Henry of Clarksdale remembers the long bus to Atlantic City, New Jersey and the crowded accommodations the delegates endured.

 After impassioned speeches by Fannie Lou Hamer and Dr. Martin Luther King, President Lyndon Johnson offered to seat two of MFDP delegates with the Illinois delegation. Henry discusses they decision to decline that offer.

He also explains that even though they were not seated at the 1964 convention, their efforts lead to the reform of the Democratic Party.

In 1964, as SNCC coordinators trained volunteers for the Mississippi Freedom Summer project, three others, Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman traveled to Philadelphia, MS to investigate a church burning.

In this episode, Cleveland Sellers recounts how he and seven other coordinators went in search of those three when they went missing. Sellers describes the extraordinary lengths their group went to, to avoid being spotted as they searched for their friends.

After several days of searching through woods and empty buildings in the dead of night, Sellers’ group was forced to abandon their search.

The bodies of Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman were eventually found on August 4^th, 1964.

After attending a Freedom School as a high school student in the summer of ’64, Charleana Cobb of Blue Mountain was inspired to become active in the civil rights movement. In this episode, she recalls promoting a speech being given at her church  by civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer. Cobb remembers the thrill of hearing Hamer speak that night and the shock of being told that the church had burned to the ground the next morning.

That December, college students from Oberlin, Ohio came to Blue Mountain to rebuild the church as a project called Carpenters for Christmas. Cobb recalls how members of the community reacted to the sacrifice these Oberlin College students made in giving up their Christmas holiday.

After attempting to register to vote, Fannie Lou Hamer was forced to leave the plantation where she had lived and worked for 18 years.  In the episode, she explains how she became active in voter registration and the challenges they faced.

Prior to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Mississippi required voters to pass a literacy test and pay a poll tax in order to vote.  Hamer recalls how she passed the test and the first time she was able to vote.

Hamer went on to become a leader in the Civil Rights movement and her speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1964 touched the nation. She reflects on her time in the spotlight and the friends she made along the way.

Fannie Lou Hamer passed away on March 14^th, 1977.

In 1962, Fannie Lou Hamer was a sharecropper’s wife, living on a plantation in Ruleville, Mississippi. In this episode, she recalls the first time she tried to register to vote.

After leaving Indianola, the bus carrying Hamer’s group was pulled over by state and local law enforcement. She describes how they were forced to return to Indianola to face an assortment of trumped up charges.

Later that same day when Hamer returned home, the owner of the plantation confronted her about attempting to register.  She describes how she was forced to leave her home of 18 years that very night for refusing to withdraw her registration.

The plantation owner's harsh treatment of Hamer led her to become an inspirational figure in the Civil Rights movement.

In 1964, Larry Rubin of Tacoma Park, Maryland came to Holly Springs to help black Mississippians register to vote. In this episode he explains how the state used literacy tests and intimidation to keep blacks from voting.

A key goal of Freedom Summer was to register enough Freedom Democratic Party voters to have their delegates seated at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Rubin recalls the drudgery of knocking on doors and the thrill of watching the convention drama unfold on TV.

Rubin also reflects on the violence and intimidation that black Mississippians endured in order to secure the right to vote.

In July of 1964, Sandra Adickes came to Hattiesburg to teach in a “Freedom School” as part of a civil rights campaign known as Freedom Summer. The Freedom Schools were intended to help black children overcome the disparity of education in Mississippi’s segregated school system.

In this episode, Adickes remembers her arrival and a 4^th of July party sponsored by civil rights activist, Vernon Dahmer. She also describes a typical day in the Freedom School and how on the last day of Freedom School, the students decided to try and integrate the Hattiesburg Public Library.

In June of 1964, a campaign was launched to educate black Mississippians and register them to vote. In the episode, Gloria Clark, a school teacher from Massachusetts, recalls riding a bus to Memphis to prepare for her role in the campaign called Freedom Summer. Clark remembers being assigned to Holly Springs and her initial reaction to that assignment.

On June 21^st, three civil rights activists James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman disappeared after being released from a Neshoba County Jail.  Their bodies were found two months later. Clark explains how their disappearance affected her.

Like many Jewish children in the South, John Levingston of Cleveland, Mississippi attended kindergarten at a Christian church.  In the episode, Levingston remembers how that led to some confusion for him.

 Growing up in a Reform Congregation, Levingston did not participate in some traditional Jewish practices.  He recalls his decision to learn Hebrew and have a bar mitzvah in his late thirties.

 The once thriving Jewish population of the Delta has dwindled as younger generations have moved away.  Levingston explains why he chose that as the topic of his bar mitzvah talk.

This summer marks the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer—a time when black Mississippians worked with northern students to confront Jim Crow and claim their rights as citizens. To commemorate this Freedom struggle, we are combing the collection to bring you a series of Mississippi Moments that explore Freedom Summer from a variety of perspectives: from organizers to volunteers to yes, even law enforcement.

In this episode, we hear from Charlie Capps. While Capps would later go on to a distinguished career as a Mississippi legislator, in spring of '64, he was the newly-elected sheriff of Bolivar County. As an elected sheriff in a county where few blacks could vote, he was the first line of defense of Mississippi’s segregated order. He recalls the fear, apprehension and resentment many in the white community felt as civil rights workers came to Mississippi to upend the Jim Crow system of racial segregation.

Ray Pittman of Hattiesburg joined the Marines in 1942 as a demolition man. In this episode, he describes a typical demolition team and the dangerous jobs they performed.

Pittman’s team suffered heavy casualties during some of the worst battles in the Pacific theater. He recalls how a spare pistol saved his life on the island of Iwo Jima.

Pittman also remembers the day his friend Maxwell was killed while they were on a recon mission and how their actions prevented an ambush by the Japanese.

This D-Day, as we pause to remember our soldiers who fought so valiantly on the beaches at Normandy, let us also consider those brave men who were fighting on the other side of the world with this--our 400th episode of Mississippi Moments.

(the picture is of a Marshall Island enemy block house blown up by Ray's team)

George W. Owens of Pontotoc was a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1936 when he met Icey Day, the state’s first blind legislator. Six years later, Owens helped Day pass legislation to establish the Mississippi Industries for the Blind.

In 1946, Owens began working as a vocational counselor for the M.I.B. In this episode, he recalls their humble beginnings and looks back with pride at how their efforts helped remove the stigma associated with blindness.

During his 20 years as a Rehabilitation Consultant and 30 years as a member of the Lions Club, George Owens worked to better the lives of the blind and visually impaired.  He passed away on March 3^rd, 1975.

Ellen McCarley grew up in Port Gibson, but sent summers with her family in rural Claiborne County. In this episode, she recalls helping her mother load the car with food and supplies for the weekly trip to the old homestead.

Much of their time was spent at a favorite swimming hole on Bayou Pierre creek. McCarley remembers catching rides there on her uncle’s Model T and eating tomato sandwiches.

Although conditions were primitive by today’s standards, McCarley explains that summers in the country provided her with simple pleasures and cherished memories.

In the 1930s, Nathan Jones of Russum provided for his family by raising cotton part of the year and cutting timber the rest of the time. During hunting season, Jones and his brothers would also supplement their incomes by selling animal pelts.  For them, it wasn’t hunting for sport, it was hunting for survival.

In this episode Jones explains how they would ship the pelts to St. Louis for export to Germany.  He discusses the effect that war and changing weather patterns affected the fur trade.

Libby Hollingsworth grew up in Leland, Mississippi, but spent summers with her grandparents in Port Gibson. In this episode, she remembers the quiet routine of reading, crafting, afternoon visits and long evening walks they kept during those summers. According to Hollingsworth, the lifestyle of Port Gibson residents in those days was peaceful and orderly.

Years later, Hollingsworth moved to Port Gibson with her husband. She explains that while life there isn’t so orderly anymore, much of the peacefulness remains.

Gulfport native John C. Robinson moved to Chicago and became a pilot after graduating from the Tuskegee Institute in the early 1920s when blacks were considered incapable of grasping the principles of aviation.  He did this by taking a job as janitor of the Curtis Wright Flight School and earning the respect of one of the instructors. After graduating, he stayed on as an instructor and helped other Africian-Americans enter the field. He later convinced his Alma Mater to open a flight school--thus paving the way for the Tuskegee Airmen of WWII.

In this episode, Gulfport writer Thomas Simmons shares stories of Robinson that he gathered in eight years of research for his book: The Brown Condor-The True Adventures of John C. Robinson.

Wendell Taylor of Gulfport became a Methodist minister in 1937. In this week's episode, he discusses Gulfside Assembly, a retreat for black Methodists located in Waveland.

Gulfside was founded in 1923 to provide spiritual, educational and recreational facilities to African-Americans who were denied access elsewhere because of segregation. Taylor remembers the outstanding church leaders who were educated at Gulfside.

In 2005, Gulfside Assembly was completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Plans to rebuild the historic site are pending.

Reverend Harry Tartt grew up in North Gulfport in the 1920s. In this week's episode, he explains that at that time, the black community accepted segregation as a fact of life. Tartt recalls being made aware of lynching at a young age and how it was used to control the black community.

It was only after Tartt moved to Chicago to attend college that he began to see that there was a world beyond the Jim Crow system. He remembers feeling frustrated when he returned home with this new sense of awareness.

Martin Huggins grew up on the family farm in the Biggersfield community near Rienzi. In this episode, he shares his memories of Grandpa Huggins including his remarkable way with the livestock.

This episode has it all: car-surfing goats, the dreaded cane of justice and 12 year old chauffeurs--you know, typical farm life.

   Alfred Brown, Junior, grew up in the historic Soria City neighborhood of Gulfport during WWII. In this episode, he describes how his father sold fish in their back yard for extra money.

   Brown remembers how Soria City residents took pride their neighborhood and looked out for each other.He recounts how his father would often give away fish to those in need.

(photo is of the Soria City Lodge, recently restored)

The Center for Oral History has proudly preserved the stories of hundreds of US veterans.

In this episode, B-24 bomber pilot C.R. Cadenhead of Greenville recalls his crew of 'misfits' and a much welcomed escort by those Southern gentlemen, the Tuskegee Airmen.

When Willie Cox of Pas Christian was discharged from the Army in February of ’67, he planned to live in the Washington DC area. In this episode, Cox explains how an unexpected job opportunity changed those plans.

 The Civil Rights movement brought increased job opportunities for African-Americans.  Cox recalls how two of his co-workers became the first black train engineers.

After three years as a switchman, Cox applied for a job as an engineer.  He recalls how persistence and an engineer shortage led to the opportunity of a lifetime.

Willie Cox retired from railroading in 2002, after 35 years on the job.

After leaving the Army, Charles Dubra became a longshoreman in Gulfport.  He recalls how an injury on the job led him to go into business for himself. He also explains how he made the transition from entrepreneur to teacher.

David Hall began attending the Thirty-third Ave Elementary School in Gulfport in 1935. There were no buses for black school children then. He recalls how the teacher would help the children warm their hands on cold mornings. He also remembers one teacher who would buy lunch for students who were hungry.

The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public works program for single, unemployed men, between the ages 18 and 25, during the Great Depression.

In 1936, Taylor Howard of Gulfport, dropped out of school to help support his family. He recalls his decision to join the CCC and describes the work he performed in the Desoto National Forrest and elsewhere as a member of the CCC.

As the Seventh of fourteen children, Jimmie Jenkins of Gulfport was always looking for ways to make money. He and his brother caught and sold crabs door to door as kids.  Later, Jenkins worked in the kitchen of the Edgewater Hotel. After returning from the Army, he returned to kitchen work shucking oysters at Fairchild's Restaurant and finally working at Carl's Beef Bar- home of the "famous Wheel Burger."

In 1964, a group of young professionals in Jackson began thinking about forming their own theatre company.  James Child discusses the decision to open the New Stage Theatre.

Child also recalls the challenge of finding a place to stage their productions with practically no money to spend and shares his memories of the opening night of New Stage Theatre’s first production: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe on January 25^th, 1966. 

L.T. Martin of Smithdale, grew up on his family’s farm in Franklin County.  In this episode, he shares the history of the “old home place”.

Martin recalls how his father would grow cotton each year with the help of tenant families and  how his role in the family business evolved over time.

In addition to being a farmer, Jeremiah Barnett was also a traveling minister. Laurel native, Lounett Gore describes her father’s ministry and his style of preaching.

After WWI, Barnett helped establish churches across Mississippi.  Gore recalls her father’s skills as an orator and organizer and how as she got older, she would travel with her father and help out by teaching hymns to the new congregation.

Thomas Gonzales, Sr. was born and raised on Delacroix Island. He recounts how his family came to the area.

Gonzales also explains how his father and grandfather taught him to fish the Gulf using traditional methods brought over from Spain and why fishing was more than a way of life—it was freedom. 

Ruthie Mae Shelton grew up on her family’s farm in Marshall County.  At the age of nine, she began helping tend their cotton crop. Shelton recalls how her uncle would plant the cotton seeds.

Picking cotton by hand is physically demanding.  Shelton remembers how the cotton bolls would sometimes prick her fingers and how “stinging worms” would cause welts.

Through trial and error, Shelton learned not to pack too much cotton into her sack before emptying it.  And by the time she was 18, Shelton could pick 200 lbs. per day.

Born in 1885, Charlie Ainsworth of Hattiesburg began cutting trees as a teenager in the Piney Woods. Despite the long hours of difficult labor, he recalls that the logging crew would sing while they worked.

Logging was dangerous work and many men lost their lives. Ainsworth remembers how his last saw partner was killed by a falling tree.

Cut logs were hauled to the sawmills by train.  Ainsworth details how he helped lay the tracks for several of the logging companies in South Mississippi.

Tom Brumfield and M.R. Reeves of McComb began working for the railroad in 1941. They explain how their family and friends influenced thir decision to become firemen shoveling coal into the massive steam locomotives.

Railroading has always been a dangerous business.  Reeves recalls the time a locomotive he was on hit a car and went off an embankment.

With no work and no prospects at home, many men decided to travel for free by freight train looking for work during the Great Depression. Jim Kelly was a railroad telegraph operator in the 1930s. He recalls the large number of migratory workers or hobos that passed through English Lookout.

Hobos were always looking for their next meal. Kelly remembers how one made off with a prized watermelon.

Life on the road was especially tough during the winter.  Kelly explains how he used to help the hobos when the temperatures dropped.

Easter Weekend of 1979, the Pearl River flooded, displacing some 17,000 families in the Jackson area alone. Ray Pope was the Jackson Police Chief at that time.  He recalls the tireless efforts of his officers to warn those in the path of the flood.

With so many driven from their homes, there were concerns that widespread looting would take place.

Pope expresses his opinion of why looting wasn’t a big problem. Pope also remembers how police officers used their own personal boats as well as those loaned to them by private citizens to patrol and protect the flooded streets of the city.

Elbert Seal was born in 1892 in Harrison County. He recounts how his mother began homesteading land in Carnes, Mississippi after the death of his father. After serving in World War I, Seal felt restless back on the family farm. He recalls how he and his cousin went to Kansas for a while to help harvest wheat.

In the early 1900s, several Southern states made it illegal to transport cattle across state lines in an effort to eradicate cow ticks. Seal describes how they would purchase herds of cattle in Alabama and “bootleg” them across the state to sell in New Orleans.



Elbert Seal passed away in August of 1974.

Charles Grant began his career teaching in a one room school house in Basin, Mississippi during the Great Depression.  He recalls what it was like to be a “faculty-of-one” at White’s Creek African-American school.

Grant remembers the effort that went into improving and expanding the tiny school. The school’s success was not without growing pains.  Grant details the reluctance of some school supervisors to provide supplies and transportation for black students.

In 1962, Mississippi College graduate Clifford Charlesworth went to work for NASA. He remembers training to become a Flight Dynamics Officer at the Johnson Space Center.

As part of the flight control team for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs, Charlesworth learned the importance of teamwork. 

In the early days of the space program, it was important to maintain radio contact between the astronauts and Mission Control.  Charlesworth recalls two astronauts who didn’t have much to say.

Larry Dykes was sheriff of Jones County in 2006. He describes a mysterious phone call he received in May of that year that led to a meeting with then President George W. Bush aboard Air Force One.

In this episode, Dykes recalls some of the things he learned while touring the President’s home away from home, the President’s casual demeanor and the photo op afterwards.

   As the sons of Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson, Spence, Bob, and Kemmons, Jr. were expected to follow in their famous father’s footsteps. In this episode, Memphis native Kemmons Jr. discusses how the three brothers divide the duties of the diverse corporation.

   Like their father, all three sons are veteran pilots. Bob Wilson details how they combined their love of flying with their experience in the hospitality industry.

   In 1979, Kemmons Wilson retired from Holiday Inn.  Two years later, he brought that same innovative spirit to the vacation resort industry. Spence Wilson explains.

In 1968, Tom Johnson of Memphis became a corporate trainer for Holiday Inn. He remembers the company’s commitment to quality training at all levels and the decision to locate their new state-of-the-art training facility, Holiday Inn University, in Olive Branch, Mississippi.

By the late 70’s it was clear that the Olive Branch facility was larger than necessary. Johnson details how that extra space was used to generate money for the company.