Contact: Jana Hill
STARKVILLE, Miss.--An exhibit titled "Paving the Way: Starkville's Early Civil Rights Leaders" is being featured through July at Mississippi State.
Displayed in Special Collections of the university's Mitchell Memorial Library, it celebrates the lives and accomplishments of physicians Douglas Conner and Richard Holmes, as well as businessman Robert Weir and his wife Sadye, an educator and employee of what now is the MSU Extension Service.
Free and open to all, the exhibit includes photographs, hand-written and typed speeches, lecture notes, published materials and related materials.
Located on the repository's third floor, Special Collections is open to the public six days a week, including 7:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Monday-Friday, and 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Saturday.
In 1951, Conner became the second African-American to set up a general practice in the Oktibbeha County seat. Over the decades, he became well-known both as a physician and leading member of the state Democratic Party and NAACP.
In 1965, Holmes, Conner's adopted son, became the first African-American to enroll at MSU. He went on to earn both bachelor's and master's degrees before enrolling in medical school at Michigan State University.
In 1991, Holmes also became the first African-American to have an MSU building--the Holmes Cultural Diversity Center--named in his honor. Following a professional career in Alabama, he returned to campus in 2003 to serve for several years as a physician at Longest Student Health Center.
Robert Wier opened City Barbershop in 1921, becoming the first black citizen to own and operate a business in the downtown area. Sadye Wier served the African-American community as a teacher and extension home economist. Together, they were, with Conner, among the community's leading civil rights exponents.
The curated papers of all four are housed in Special Collections. For more information on the exhibit or the Conner, Holmes and Wier papers, contact the library department at 662-325-7679 or sp_coll@library.msstate.edu.
Complete information of the Mississippi State University Libraries is found at www.library.msstate.edu.
MSU, the Magnolia State's flagship research institution, is online at www.msstate.edu.