African Quote by Natasha Trethewey

Isolated and unincorporated, North Gulfport lacked a basic infrastructure: flooding and contaminated drinking water were frequent problems. Although finally incorporated in 1994 - not…

— Natasha Trethewey

At the beginning of the 20th century, before the migration began, 90 percent of all African-Americans were living in the South. By the end…

— Isabel Wilkerson

I was always very aware of the nature of the place where I was growing up in Gulfport, Mississippi, how that place was shaping…

— Natasha Trethewey

The Mississippi of 1920 was an exceptionally dangerous place for Black people. But my grandfather deeply believed in helping create opportunities to African-Americans to…

— Mike Espy

As I grew older I began to realize that Mississippi really wasn't that bad. The basis for progress has always been there. And the…

— Mike Espy

When I was in college, I lived in a mostly black, poor neighborhood. That's where I grew up, but I attended a mostly white…

— Angie Thomas

After the Civil War, Black Mississippians had economic power, voting rights, and citizenship. They used their majority to elect African-Americans to office up and…

— Mike Espy

“A great paradox...red states are poorere and have more teen mothers, more divorce, worse health, more obesity, more trauma-related deaths, more low-birth-weight babies, and…

— Arlie Russell Hochschild

When someone is in 'the struggle,' which many of our black communities are in, they are living with a lack of educational facilities, high…

— Kenny Smith

I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee; I went to college in New Orleans before moving to New York City for graduate school. Both sets…

— Bryant Terry

I am a lifelong Mississippian. I remember Jim Crow, 'colored' and 'white' water fountains, and my mother's inability to try on a dress in…

— Mike Espy

As a teenager growing up during Jim Crow, all I wanted to do was leave Mississippi. But I came back and raised my own…

— Mike Espy