Mississippi Moments Podcast

Edmond Boudreaux's family came to Biloxi in 1914 to work in the seafood factories. In this episode, he shares his family's long history in the seafood industry and how his father would work in the factory as child before and after attending school each day. Growing up on "The Point" in East Biloxi, Boudreaux never thought of his family as poor. He recalls how he and his brothers would play and fis...

In 1973, Gayle Greene-Aguirre, a professor at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, was studying History at the University of Connecticut. In this episode, she recalls her decision to enlist in the Women's Army Corps, College Junior Program. Green-Aguirre chose a career in the US Army based more on economic incentives than a sense of duty.  She explains how that experience, and exposure to top...

Kiln, Mississippi native Christine Harvey has spent much of her life defying expectations. In this episode, she discusses how stereotypes about her race, gender, and home state, have little to do with reality. In 1971, Harvey was one of two black players on the Hancock North Central Girls basketball team. She recalls being attacked by the opposing team and how her fellow students responded. While...

Dr. Dollye Robinson grew up in a musical family, two blocks from what is now Jackson State University. In this episode, she recalls how being surrounded by music inspired her to become a band director. While attending Lanier High School, Robinson would often rehearse with the Jackson College band. She remembers how that experience landed her a music scholarship after graduation. As a music major a...

Senator Thad Cochran was born in Pontotoc, Mississippi, on December 7th, 1937. In this episode, he discusses his family's long history in Mississippi and his parents' careers in Education. As the son of public school teachers, Cochran was expected to excel in academics, sports and music. He explains how their emphasis on education and hard work made theirs an achievement-oriented family. Even thou...

There was a variety of landing craft utilized in the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Cmdr. Rip Bounds of Hattiesburg piloted a Utility Landing Ship designed to carry the heavy equipment Allied forces would need to wage war on the Axis occupiers in France. He bravely guided his craft into enemy fire loaded with tons of highly explosive ammunition, landed on the beach, waited to be unloaded, a...

Founded in 1816, a full year before Mississippi achieved statehood, Natchez Children's Services has always worked to provide our most vulnerable children, respite from abuse, hunger, and neglect. Nancy Hungerford began her tenure as director of the state's oldest nonprofit in 1983. In this episode, taken from a 1999 oral history interview, she recounts some of the organization's 200-year history....

Jim Swager of Brookhaven joined the US Army shortly after his 18th birthday, three months before D-day. In this episode, he shares his memories of the journey from Mississippi to the battlefields of France as part of the 103rd Infantry, Cactus Division. Although he weighed a mere 130 lbs. his captain made him a machine gunner and assigned him a BAR. The Browning Automatic Rifle was a 30-caliber li...

During WWII, American long range bombers decimated German industrial sites in order to shorten the war. In this episode, Phil McGuire of Macon recalls his decision to become a ball turret gunner on a B-17 flying fortress. The B-17 heavy bomber, bristling with machine guns, is one of the most iconic planes of the war. They could survive heavy damage and still make it home again. Even so, being part...

Macon, Mississippi, county seat of Noxubee County, has a long and storied past. It served as the state capital during the second half of the Civil War and was the place where the Treaty of Dancing River was signed. When longtime resident, Joseph Maury, Jr. and his wife, Selma, sat down to share their memories in September of 1999, it was obvious they both had a great love for the town and the life...

Elmer McCoy represented Prentiss County in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1936 until 1952 and was chairman of the Education Committee for nine years. He authored important legislation including the free textbook law, homestead exemption, and state supported public schools.  And he played a crucial role in the creation of Northeast Mississippi Community College. McCoy was born in 190...

In 1933, W.C. Nelms graduated from Mississippi State with a degree in Civil Engineering. In this episode, he discusses working for the Civilian Conservation Corp and their efforts to control the erosion that devastated so many Mississippi farms. By 1934, it was estimated that 100 million acres of US farmland had lost its topsoil due to erosion. Nelms recalls how the CCC worked with Mississippi far...

Throughout WWII, U.S. armed forces remained segregated along racial lines. Even though over 900,000 African-Americans served in the armed forces during the war—proving their worth time and again—they were still viewed with suspicion by many of their white commanding officers and others. LaMont Martin of Gulfport was drafted into the Army after graduating high school in 1942.  In this episode, he s...

Gulfport native Aurabelle C­aggins lost her parents at a young age and went to live with her uncle's family. In this episode, she shares her memories of growing up in a household where everyone was required to earn their keep. For Caggins that meant getting up each morning at 5 AM, to wash clothes in a cast iron pot, before walking to school. When Caggins began attending school in 1925, students w...

Bay St. Louis native, Henry Capdepon, was 18 years old when the United States entered WWI in April of 1917. In this episode, Capdepon shares his memories of the two years and two months he spent serving in the trenches and on the battlefields of Europe. He describes his decision to enlist with the Marines as a "thirst for adventure." When Capdepon joined the Marines, the journey to the front lines...

Billy Ferrell became Sheriff of Adams County in January of 1960.  In this episode, he describes the rising tensions brought on by the Civil Rights Movement during the second half of his first term in office. During the 1960s, the Ku Klux Klan tried to intimidate anyone they perceived as supporting civil rights.  Ferrell remembers countering threats against his family with some intimidation of his...

After graduating from medical school in 1947, Dr. Tom Mayer took a temporary job with the Mississippi State Department of Health while waiting to begin his internship. In this episode, he remembers trying to vaccinate school children in Walthall County. Later, he returned to McComb to set up a medical practice at the urging of a friend. In the mid-1950s, Mayer was hired by the Illinois Central Rai...

Lusia Harris-Stewart grew up in Minter City, Mississippi, the tenth of eleven children. In this episode, taken from her 1999 oral history interview, she recalls how her love of basketball grew from a way to escape chores, to a way to attend college. Her standout abilities as a player on the Amanda Elzy High School girls' basketball team caught the attention of Delta State recruiter, Melvin Hemphil...

In 1959 Dr. Gilbert Mason was the only black physician on the staff of the new Biloxi Hospital. At that time, the 26 mile man-made Biloxi beach, paid for with Federal funding, was designated for whites only, in violation of the original agreement.  In this episode, Mason explains his decision to try and integrate the beach. After he was arrested, Mason and group of black citizens petitioned the Ha...

Amzie Moore of Cleveland, Mississippi, had to fend for himself from the time he was fourteen years old. In this episode, he recalls wondering why there was such economic disparity between the white and black communities. To his young mind, there must have been something special about white people that allowed them to attain a higher standard of living than blacks. It was only after serving in Euro...

In 1948, Gladys Noel Bates agreed to be the named plaintiff in a lawsuit brought by the black Mississippi Teachers Association against the state of Mississippi to demand equal pay for black teachers, knowing that she and her husband would most likely lose their jobs. After news of the suit made headlines, Bates remembers the other teachers avoided being seen with her for fear of reprisals. She des...

In October of 1966, Father Peter Quinn became pastor of Holy Rosary, a small, black, parish in Hattiesburg. Interested in working with the youth of the community, he formed a group that would later become the Catholic Youth Organization. In this episode, he describes how their young people participated in picketing and boycotts during the Civil Rights Movement. As an activist priest in Hattiesburg...

Henry Walton of Mendenhall, Mississippi, grew up in Waycross, Georgia, the son of a high school principal. He was seven years old when his father took him to see a performance by Birch the Magician and it inspired him to take up magic as a hobby. In this episode, Walton discusses that experience and the Gilbert Mysto Magic Sets he later received for Christmas. He began collecting books on magic, l...

Mississippi author Shelby Foote, best known for his three volume history of the American Civil War, was born in Greenville, Mississippi in November of 1916. In this episode, we revisit his oral history interview, conducted by Dr. Orley B. Caudill on March 4, 1975, at his home in Memphis. Foote discusses growing up in Greenville, how everyone attended the same school and what they did for fun durin...

David Baria and his wife decided to move their family to Bay Saint Louis in the spring of 2004. In this episode, taken from his 2008 interview, he recalls their idyllic life on the Gulf Coast, prior to the arrival of Hurricane Katrina the following year. On August 28, 2005, people began fleeing the Gulf Coast area as Katrina approached. Baria remembers the challenges his family faced as they prepa...