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Biography/History:
Henry Jay Kirksey, son of Charles Sumner and Neddie Mae Puller Kirksey, was born near Tupelo, Lee County, Mississippi, on May 9, 1915. Kirksey, the fourth of eight children, sporadically attended schools in Lee County. Henry Kirksey followed his brother Charles to St. Louis, Missouri, where he later graduated from high school. Kirksey was one of the first males admitted to Stowe Teachers College in St. Louis. He later attended North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina, on a football scholarship.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Kirksey suspended his studies and joined the United States Army, where he eventually rose to the rank of major. While in the military, Kirksey learned both map making and demographics. In 1946, Kirksey was discharged from the army, but remained in the reserves. He married Audrey Neal in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and returned to Durham to complete his college coursework. Henry and Audrey Kirksey had three children: Henry Jr., Karin, and Kevin. After graduating, Kirksey returned to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to complete his reserve time. He then briefly moved his family to Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, where he enrolled at Jackson State College. Kirksey rejoined the army and was assigned to Fort Benning, Georgia. In 1949, Kirksey filed a suit claiming racially discriminatory practices in military workload and rotation. The suit was successful, and led to changes in duty rotations and furloughs for African American soldiers. Kirksey was transferred during the investigation, and following the outcome, was classified as ‘surplus’ and had his commission terminated by the army.
Kirksey began working in the journalism field. He worked for the Los Angeles Sentinel, an African American newspaper. He also trained as a printing apprentice and worked for the United States Postal Service. Kirksey opened a print shop and worked with the California Institute of Social Welfare for Senior Citizens, but moved to Greensboro, North Carolina in 1959. He returned to Mississippi, where he worked in his sister’s funeral home in Tupelo. In 1961, Kirksey moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where he became the editor of The Mississippi Teacher’s Association Journal (MTAJ) and became deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement. He worked with Medgar Evers and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as other organizations. When Evers was assassinated on June 12, 1963, Kirksey wrote an editorial in the MTAJ calling for greater African American teacher participation in the movement. The layout included a photograph of Evers in his casket. In the resulting scandal, the association allowed Kirksey’s contract to expire, and he moved on to edit The Free Press, the newspaper of the Civil Rights Movement. He also compiled data to document the conditions in the public schools in the state using NAACP Legal Defense Fund statistics. Kirksey worked as a demographics analyst, lithographer, and cartographer to aid the movement. He became involved with several cases that enforced the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act in the state of Mississippi.
Kirksey left Jackson for Mount Beulah, Hinds County, Mississippi, in 1965, and opened another print shop. He worked with several groups, including SNCC, CORE, SCLC, and the Delta Ministry. The groups used Mount Beulah as a meeting center, and Kirksey’s shop was the major printer of their literature.
In the 1970s, Kirksey moved to the forefront of politics and community leadership. He ran for several offices, including governor, lieutenant governor, United States Senate, United States Congress, Mississippi State Senate, and mayor of Jackson. He was successfully elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1980, and served two terms. As an activist, Kirksey sued for several changes in the political establishments of the city of Jackson and the state of Mississippi. He was a witness in several cases that led to changes in the political landscape of the state. In Jordan v. Winter, the ruling reapportioned congressional districts and enabled Michael Espy to become the first African American United States Congressman since Reconstruction. Kirksey also was a plaintiff in the cases of Connor v. Johnson, Connor v. Waller, and Watkins v. Mabus, which led to the creation of several congressional and senatorial districts with African American majorities and a larger representation in state politics. Kirksey was also involved in national politics: he was head of the Jesse Jackson presidential campaign committee in Mississippi and was a delegate for Jackson at the 1984 Democratic Convention.
In 1984, Kirksey was involved in two suits, Kirksey v. Allain and Martin v. Allain, which resulted in the creation of single member judicial districts, increasing the pool of potential African American judicial candidates. He was also involved in the elections of several African Americans as Hinds County supervisors. Kirksey was a key figure in the change of Jackson city government from the commission form of governance to a system of ward representation. Kirksey also fought to limit the authority of the lieutenant governor in the state of Mississippi, and was actively involved in the litigation that led to the opening of the Sovereignty Commission records. He extended his message of racial uplift and political participation through his radio program and newspaper, both called The Truth.
In 1992, Henry Kirksey became an adjunct professor of political science at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi. Henry Jay Kirksey died December 9, 2005, at the age of ninety.
Scope and Content:
The Henry Jay Kirksey Papers are composed of political data, presidential campaign materials, and newsclippings. The materials document Kirksey, a vocal Civil Rights leader and Mississippi state senator, and his participation in local and state government, as well as his career as a litigant in the state of Mississippi. Of particular interest are the files of the 1984 Jesse Jackson Presidential campaign. Kirksey was the head of the Mississippi campaign, as well as a delegate to the 1984 Democratic National Convention.
Series Identification:
This series of political data is composed of annotated printed maps, tables, and charts. The tables and charts are compiled census and voting data for Hinds County, used by Kirksey in his political litigation as well as maps delineating supervisors’ districts and voting precincts in the county. The data covers the general election returns of the late sixties, and includes polling data from local and statewide elections in 1972, 1973, and 1977. Of special interest are the T-shirt from a Kirksey Senate campaign and the circa 1969 Jackson Precinct map, which shows voting divisions of the city prior to litigation. Also included is material related to Henry Kirksey v. the City of Jackson, which was one of Kirksey’s attempts to change Hinds County politics.
Box 1The series contains financial statements, printed materials, correspondence, and newsclippings generated by the 1984 Jesse Jackson for president Mississippi committee. Henry Kirksey was the co-chair of the state committee, and a delegate at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. Of special interest is the delegate selection plan, which documents the selection of the 43 delegates and 14 alternates to the Democratic National Convention.
Box 2This series consists of newsclippings about Henry Kirksey. They include political cartoons, commentaries, interviews, and articles that follow, explain, endorse or castigate Henry Kirksey. The clippings are drawn from various sources, the majority from the Hinds County area: the (Jackson) Clarion-Ledger and Daily News, and the Jackson Advocate. Topics such as presidential politics, local school funding, and state budgeting are also covered in this series. Of special interest are the clippings that follow the 1984 Presidential primaries and general elections.
Boxes 3-4 (reference photocopies)