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Interview with Mr. Henry Espy
General Topic of Interview: Education and Civil Rights politics
Date: 3 November, 2008
Location: Clarkesdale, Mississippi, USA
Narrator: Mr. Henry Espy
Interviewer: Max Paschall
Transcriber: Unknown
Biographical Information:
Henry Espy is currently the mayor of Clarkesdale. He was educated in a private Catholic school, and later attended Southern University in Louisiana. His experiences with civil rights activism while at Southern University prompted him to enter politics in order to create change. Mayer Espy was the first African-American to be voted onto the Coahoma County school board.
Interview Information:
Mayer Espy details the manner in which politics and education can create positive change. As a director of funerals in Coahoma County, he recalls preparing the body of civil rights martyr Emmett Till, and civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer for burial.