Jeanette Smith, Hattiesburg civil rights leader, dies at 78

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) – Funeral services are next week for a longtime civil rights leader in a Mississippi community.

The Hattiesburg American reports Jeanette Smith was 78 when she died May 27 in Atlanta.

She and her husband, Dr. C.E. Smith, were instrumental in propelling the civil rights movement in Hattiesburg in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Both served as president of the Forrest County NAACP, an organization they joined in 1959.

The former Jeanette Musgrove grew up in Soso and moved to Hattiesburg in 1959 after she married one of the first black physicians to work at Forrest General Hospital.

She continued to serve her community long after her husband’s death in September 1986. She was the county NAACP president from 1977-79 and again from 1992-94.

Her funeral is Wednesday in Soso.

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Information from: The Hattiesburg American, http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com

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