JACKSON, Miss — Black History Month is a great time to celebrate the achievements of Black women, including voting rights advocate trailblazer Flonzie Brown-Wright.
In 1968, Brown-Wright became the first Black woman elected to public office in Mississippi since Reconstruction.
She helped integrate Mississippi's beaches and registered thousands of voters, despite violence and death threats. When she was denied the right to vote, she decided to run for office.
As the election commissioner in Madison County, Mississippi, Brown-Wright fought for voting rights from within and sued the elections board for discriminating against Black candidates and poll workers.
She recalled getting turned away because of a questionnaire designed to suppress Black voters.
"I pulled out the question, 'define Habeas Corpus,'" Brown-Wright said about the test. "I had absolutely no idea what it meant. But I wrote something because I was hoping that if he was having a good day, that he would allow me to pass. And so when I finished the questionnaire — and I even dressed up that day — he looked at me, and he looked at my questionnaire, and I finally said, 'Well, how did I do?' Well very angrily, he said, 'Well, you didn't pass.'"
Brown-Wright said after that, she turned around and decided to run for office that very same day to make sure no one else was denied the right to vote.
She is now in her 70s and continues to fight for civil and voting rights in Mississippi.
For more on Brown-Wright's story and to learn about other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, visit voicesofthecivilrightsmovement.com.