New Columbus Freedom Trail Marker honors Civil Rights pioneer
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – A Mississippi Civil Rights pioneer is being remembered in a permanent way in Columbus.
A Freedom Trail Marker honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Emmett J. Stringer was unveiled today on Catfish Alley.
Stringer was a leading figure in the NAACP in Mississippi for more than 40 years.
The Mound Bayou native moved to Columbus in 1950 and practiced dentistry at an office on 4th Street South, Catfish Alley.
In the early 1950s, Stringer helped organize the NAACP chapter in Columbus and grew its numbers and the state membership.
He was elected state president of the organization in 1953 and recruited Medgar Evers to apply to the law school at Ole Miss in 1954. He later appointed Evers State Field Secretary.
Dr. Stringer began leading the charge for school desegregation at the local and state levels in 1954.
He continued his activism work through the 1970s and recruited and mentored Black leaders until his death.
Some of those leaders say younger people need to know more about the man.
“We would not have heard about the man they call Medgar Evers, and the great work Medgar Evers did in the State of Mississippi, if it wasn’t for Dr. E.J. Stringer,” said District 41 Representative Kabir Karriem.
“He was just a man of great stature who kind of set the bar for African American men, not only in this community, but throughout this nation. When he passed, the community really lost a great warrior, so the tragedy is that we have a couple of generations that don’t even know anything about him. I encourage young people to do their homework and learn about Dr. Stringer, and the impact he had not only on Columbus, but on this state,” said Lowndes Supervisor, Leroy Brooks.
The marker honoring Dr. Stringer is across the street from the building where he practiced dentistry from 1950 until 1992. Stringer passed away in 1995.
