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Southern Women

Several of the Mississippi women corresponded with the Wednesday women after their return home; others sent their comments to the NCNW and remained involved in subsequent years. Some of those comments are available here. Many southern women were interviewed for the Wedensdays in Mississippi Documentary Film,  which is in production. www.wimsfilmproject.com.

  • Letter from Mrs. R.L. Ezelle, Sr. on September 17, 1964
    Miriam Ezelle was a white widow from a prominent Jackson family. She was one of the very first white women to agree to host WIMS guests, but after that first experience she struck up a friendship with Jean Davis and the two women continued to correspond. In this letter Ezelle talks about school desegregation in Jackson. Note that she refers to Jean Davis giving talks about her WIMS experience around Illinois.
  • Letter from Mrs. R.L. Ezelle, Sr. on October 21, 1964
    In this letter Ezelle talks about SNCC and COFO and desegregation, and explains her support for Barry Goldwater for President of the United States. There was no room for moderation in Mississippi. Mrs. Ezelle considered herself a Christian woman troubled about race. She was a member of Church Women United. In her Mississippi, she was a liberal.
  • Jean Davis’s response to Mrs. Ezelle’s October 21, 1964 Letter
    Jean Davis wrote Miriam Ezelle talking about The Northside Reporter, Davis family news, and the summer of 1964.
  • WIMS 1964 Report, pages 20-21
    At the end of the summer the WIMS staff put together a report. In one section they discussed the reactions among white Mississippians to WIMS.
  • January 24, 2003: Dorothy Height Oral History Interview by Holly Shulman
    Dorothy I. Height talks about the impact WIMS and her assessment of its success