Brutality In Winona

Winona, Mississippi

Unveiling and Dedication: June 8, 2024

Location: 100 North Applegate Street, Winona, MS (In front of Muno’s Stop N Go on the corner of U.S. Highway 51 (Applegate) and Summit Street.

On Sunday, June 9, 1963, civil rights activists, Fannie Lou Hamer, Euvester Simpson (17), Annell Ponder, Ruth Davis, James West, Rosemary Freeman and 15-year-old June Johnson were returning from a voter registration workshop in South Caroline when their Trailways Bus stopped at depot and the adjoining Staley’s Café (now torn down) a few hundred feet away from this site.

Simpson and Davis attempted to use a “whites only” bathroom and were turned away. Ponder, West, Freeman and Johnson sat the lunch counter of the segregated restaurant and were denied service. All were arrested and taken to the to the Montgomery County Jail a few blocks away on Sterling Avenue and Oak Street, including Hamer who never got off the bus. All of the activists, particularly Hamer and Ponder were brutally beaten.

The unveiling of the Marker on this site commemorates this tragic event that Fannie Lou Hamer spoke about for the rest of her life.

Marker Program.

Recognizing the historical importance of the Staley’s Café site, the quest to have a Mississippi Freedom Trail Marker installed was spearheaded by Winona native Vickie Roberts Ratliff of Bridging Winona. In 2022, Roberts and Dr. Davis W. Houck, a Fannie Lou Hamer historian and author, worked to have a Mississippi State Historical Marker placed at the site of the old Montgomery County Jail. Houck and civil rights activist Euvester Simpson wrote the details etched on the Marker.

The ceremony for the unveiling was held at Winona Baptist Church in Winona.

Hosted by Pam Junior, Director Emerita of the Two Mississippi Museums, the program featured remarks by Representative Bennie Thompson; Reena Evers Everett, daughter of Medgar Evers; Ambassador Andrew Young via teleconference and civil rights activist Euvester Simpson, the last surviving member of those arrested with Hamer. She was 17-years-old at the time.

John Spann, Program and Outreach Officer for the Mississippi Humanities Council who oversees the Mississippi Freedom Trail Markers unveiled the new marker. Media coverage included WTVA (right).

Photos courtesy of: Marilyn Mays, Vickie Roberts Ratliff, Drew Mayor Melanie Townsend, John Spann, Mississippi Humanities Council and Fannie Lou Hamer’s America.

The unveiling of the Brutality in Winona Marker is the 38th placement on the Mississippi Freedom Trail. The unveiling took place at Winona Baptist Church. And the Marker was placed in its permanent location later that month.

The Mississippi Freedom Trail was created to commemorate the people and places in the state that played a pivotal role in the American Civil Rights Movement. Under the leadership of Visit Mississippi, the first Freedom Trail markers were unveiled in 2011 in conjunction with the 50th anniversary reunion of the Freedom Riders.

Fannie Lou Hamer was the first woman honored with a marker on May 25, 2011, and the fourth marker on the trail. She was preceded by Emmett Till and Medgar Evers.

In 2022, Visit Mississippi entered into a partnership with the Mississippi Humanities Council to expand the trail, and they are on pace to more than double the number of markers by the end of 2024. All new markers are approved by a committee of community leaders, civil rights veterans, and civil rights scholars.

Left: Pam Junior, Director Emerita of the Two Mississippi Museums, hosted the program for the unveiling of the Brutality in Winona Marker held at Winona Baptist Church.

Speakers.

Hazel Knight sings Precious Lord at the program

Civil Rights Activist Ambassador Andrew Young

Family and Supporters.

U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson and Fannie Lou Hamer's niece, the mayor of Drew, Melanie Townsend

Friends, Hamer family members and supporters wait for the unveiling

(l) Fannie Lou Hamer's niece Marilyn Mays and Reena Evers Everette

(l to r) Fannie Lou Hamer's nephew Jimmy "Sonny" Lacey, her cousin Eddie Fair and John Spann.

(l to r) Will Harrison, Alisa Oglesby, Euvester Simpson, Vickie Roberts Ratliff, Dhana Powell Pope, U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson and John Spann. (Back) Nicholas Gardner, Michael Morris and Maggie Lowery

Euvester Simpson, Grenada Mayor Charles Latham, Yolanda Echols, Hazel Knight, U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson and Civil Rights Activist MacArthur Cotton

(l to r) Annell Ponder's granddaughter Segena Ponder, Euvester Simpson, and Pam Junior

Euvester Simpson, U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson, Eddie Fair, Reena Evers Everett, Ruby McWilliams, Vickie Roberts Ratliff and Melanie Townsend

Reena Evers Everette, Hazel Knight and MacArthur Cotton

Several members of Fannie Lou Hamer's family attended the unveiling

Fannie Lou Hamer's nieces Marilyn Mays and Melanie Townsend

Marilyn Mays, Jimmy "Sonny" Lacey, Melanie Townsend, Ruby McWilliams and Eddie Fair

Melanie Townsend and Vickie Roberts Ratliff

Marker at U.S. Highway 51 & Summit Street.

Winona Times Editor and Publisher Tiffany Otis, Vickie Roberts Ratliff and Whitfield Ratliff

Fannie Lou Hamer Talks About The Winona Jail Assault.

Fannie Lou Hamer describes the brutal ordeal in Winona that changed her life forever, in the film, Fannie Lou Hamer's America.

Fannie Lou Hamer describes her experience to the Credentials Committee at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, NJ.

Media Reports.

Following the beating of the civil rights activists, news of the assault appeared in the local Winona Times (left) and JET Magazine (below). Both are the first known printed reports about Fannie Lou Hamer. Also pictured below is Staley’s Café in Winona as it looked in 1963. And (bottom - right) the Montgomery County Jail where Hamer and the others were beaten.