After the U.S. Civil War, white supremacists used felony disenfranchisement to suppress the Black vote. Even now, restoring rights has hit a roadblock. By DAJA E. HENRY JA Guest Writer This article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system, and Mississippi Today. Sign up for The Marshall Project’s Jackson newsletter (https://www.themarshallproject.org/newsletters/jackson), and follow them on Instagram, TikTok, Reddit and Facebook. Charles Caldwell was never meant to have a voice. Mississippi’s White ruling class made sure of it. He was part of Mississippi’s silenced majority in 1860 — 436,600 enslaved people to 354,000 White people, according to the Census — who would be granted full citizenship after the Civil War.  By 1868, Caldwell was one of 16 Black delegates at the state’s post-war constitutional convention, which extended the right to vote to all men and created a framework for public

New York Times bestselling author Eddie Glaude Jr. returned to his native Mississippi for more than a book signing of his latest offering,  “We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For”. In a comfortable living room like setting at the Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, April 4, which marked the 56th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the preeminent scholar sat down with historian Pam Junior and engaged in an intimate conversation about how everyday people can become pivotal leaders in their communities.  Glaude dove right in after getting the cue from Junior to share his thoughts on generational Black leadership. “At this point in my life I am looking back in order to look forward.  I’m looking back to see how our grassroots leaders, organizers, politicians, and philosophers of our past have influenced me to the point of how they have influenced my thinking