JANS – On Sunday, August 18, 2024, family and friends of Peter Herbert Stewart Jr. gathered at the COFO Center for Civil Rights Education at 1017 J. R. Lynch Street to celebrate his 90th birthday.
On August 21, 1934, Dr. Stewart was born at the Vicksburg Charity Hospital. He is the son of the late Peter Stewart Sr. and Mrs. Angeline Stamps Stewart McGriggs. He grew up on his family farm in Edwards, Mississippi, and attended Mount Moriah Baptist Church Elementary School in Edwards.
As the child of sharecroppers, he worked on his uncle’s farm, plowing with a mule at the age of eight as well as fulfilling other duties, such as picking cotton and cutting firewood. The first of his six siblings to finish high school, he graduated in 1953 from Utica Institute.
After graduation, he enlisted in the United States Air Force, completing his basic training at Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio, Texas, and served two years at the Wiesbaden Air Force base in Germany.
Upon completion of his four-year enlistment in the Air Force, Dr. Stewart enrolled at Jackson State College where he met his first wife, the late Dorothy Thompson Stewart Samuel and pledged Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Science Education. Dr. Stewart graduated from Jackson State University in 1961, attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., on a scholarship to the summer program, and began teaching school in Edwards, Mississippi, in the fall of 1961.
Dr. Stewart taught for a year at Edwards Junior High before joining the faculty of Brinkley Junior-Senior High School. From 1962 to 1969, he taught biology and Black History, and coached tennis. While at Brinkley, he also organized a group of students called the Young Concerned Christians. This group focused on Black History and became the nucleus of that group of students becoming active in the movement in Jackson during the 1960s. Malcolm Shepherd, Central Mississippi Blues Society President, stated, “Mr. Stewart provided my first exposure to Black History as a student at Brinkley.”
In August of 1969, Dr. Stewart worked for Friends of Children, a Head Start agency. He attended the Yale National Urban Fellows Program in 1970, after which he was assigned to a nine-month internship with the Civil Rights Commission in San Francisco, California. In 1970, he was appointed to the committee to oversee integration of the city of Jackson and served as executive director of the Community Coalition for Public Schools.
He received his PhD in Education from Union Graduate School in Cincinnati, Ohio.
In 1973, he assumed the position of Director of Minority Student Affairs for the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He worked for the Bureau of Public Health Dentistry for the Mississippi State Board of Health. From 1983-1988 he served as Director of Student Services for the Meharry College School of Dentistry in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1991, he began to work for Mississippi Action for Progress.
Spearheading the Pre-Med Consortium at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Dr. Stewart initiated the Early Dental Acceptance Program at Meharry Dental School, developed the Community Needs Assessment Instrument for Region IV of Mississippi Action for Progress, and was instrumental in implementing the Childbirth Doula Program at Mississippi Action for Progress. He also pioneered an aviation program, called “I Too, Can Fly” at Jackson Public Schools’ Rowan Middle School; served as a Site Council member for Deva Brown Elementary School; and served as chairman of the Hinds County Human Resources Agency.
Dr. Stewart was awarded the Meritorious Leadership Award from Tougaloo College and the Meritorious Governor’s (Mississippi) Award for Innovation in Education.
His friend and high school classmate, Dr. Robert Smith remarked: “Peter, thank you for 75 years of support and friendship and especially for your contributions to Civil and Human Rights and especially your contributions to Black Physicians and the struggle for justice in health care.” His friend and former supervisor, Dr. Rueben Warren stated: “Congratulations, Uncle Peter. You were a ‘GOD-SENT’ gift to me and my family when we first moved to Jackson in 1980. You helped me understand Mississippi, Black and white people. You were the perfect person to serve as Director of Student Services at the dental school at Meharry Medical College when I served as Dean of the School of Dentistry (1983-1988). Our friendship endures regardless of time, place, or condition. Happy Birthday, Uncle Peter. You continue to live a life worth living.”
Dr. Stewart is the father of six children: Rubina McCadney, Angela Stewart, Monica Wilson, Nick Collins, Peter Stewart, III, and Courtney Stewart. His grandchildren are Ria McCadney, Megan Stewart, Amber Stewart, David Wilson, Rachel Wilson, Grace Wilson, Paige Stewart, and Paris Stewart.
He currently resides in Jackson with his daughter Angela Stewart.
