Hattiesburg in Forrest County, Mississippi — The American South (East South Central)

Victoria Jackson Gray Adams

— Mississippi Freedom Trail —

Photographed by Mark Hilton, September 26, 2026

1. Victoria Jackson Gray Adams Marker

Inscription.
Victoria Jackson Gray Adams was the Mississippi supervisor of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's (SCLC) Citizenship Education Program, a founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), and the first African American woman from Mississippi to run for U.S. Senator. In 1965, Gray, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Annie Devine led a high-profile MFDP challenge to the seating of Mississippi's U.S. congressional delegation, which highlighted the need for national voting rights legislation.

Victoria Jackson was born November 5, 1926, in Palmers Crossing, just outside of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She was raised by her grandparents, Frozene and Conteen Jackson, who instilled in her Black pride and self-determination. She graduated from DePriest Consolidated High School and then briefly attended Wilberforce University in Ohio. She married Tony Gray, with whom she moved to Germany, where he was stationed during the Korean War, and had three children. In the late 1950s, Gray returned to Hattiesburg to launch a cosmetic business, with twenty-six employees. In 1962, she met Student Nonviolent Coordinating

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Committee (SNCC) workers Hollis Watkins and Curtis Hayes and worked with her pastor, the Reverend L.P. Ponder, to open St. John Methodist Church as a base for SNCC voter registration efforts. That year as field secretary for SNCC, she led a boycott against Hattiesburg businesses. Gray then tried to register to vote three separate times in 1962, but was denied each time. Her efforts became part of the evidence used to sue Forrest County registrar Theron Lynd in U.S. v. Lynd, the first federal case to convict a registrar for contempt of court.

In 1963, Gray became a teacher with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's (SCLC) Citizenship Education Program and ultimately became its Mississippi supervisor. In June 1964, she challenged U.S. Senator John Stennis in the Democratic primary. By running for Senate, Gray became the second Mississippi woman to run for the office and the first who supported full democracy for all citizens. In April 1964, she helped found the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) and went on to serve as National Committeewoman for its Democratic National Convention challenge in Atlantic City in August.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, September 26, 2026

2. Victoria Jackson Gray Adams Marker

After being denied the right to run as independents for the U.S. House of Representatives in November 1964, Gray, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Annie Devine challenged the seating of the five Congressmen from Mississippi. Thanks to this Congressional Challenge, MFDP collected over 15,000 pages of depositions from 600 Black Mississippians describing the discrimination and violence they faced while trying to vote. This challenge provided clear evidence to push forward legislation, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965, to ensure democracy for all. She also served as a board member of the Child Development Group of Mississippi Head Start program, which created Black-led preschool centers.

Gray married Reuben Adams in 1966, later gave birth to her fourth child, and moved to Thailand, where she founded the Afro-American Women's Club to aid military families. In the 1970s, she moved back to the U.S. and became a campus minister at Virginia State University. In the 1990s, she was featured in a number of television and film documentaries, returned to Hattiesburg, and continued to teach about the civil rights movement. Victoria Jackson Gray Adams

Photographed by Mark Hilton, September 26, 2026

3. Victoria Jackson Gray Adams Marker

Closeup of photos & captions.

died on August 12, 2006.

Erected 2024 by Visit Mississippi, the Mississippi Humanities Council. (Marker Number 48.)

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Civil Rights • Religion & Religious Structures. In addition, it is included in the Mississippi Freedom Trail series list. A significant historical month for this entry is April 1964.

Location. 31° 16.447′ N, 89° 15.263′ W. Marker is in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in Forrest County. It is on Stepts Avenue north of J M Tatum Industrial Drive, on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Hattiesburg MS 39401, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in the Pine Belt.

It is also in the American South,

specifically in the Deep South,

and in the Piney Woods.

Globally, it is in North America,

a Gulf of Mexico state,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum

Victoria Jackson Gray Adams Marker looking south. image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, September 26, 2026

4. Victoria Jackson Gray Adams Marker looking south.

South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 5 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Hi-Hat Club (approx. one mile away); Mount Olive Cemetery (approx. 3.2 miles away); Original Sunrise School (approx. 3.4 miles away); Bonhomie (approx. 3½ miles away); "The Civil Rights Church" (approx. 3½ miles away); William Carey College (approx. 3.6 miles away); William Harris Hardy (approx. 4.1 miles away); The Hattiesburg Train Depot (approx. 4.1 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Hattiesburg.

Also see . . . Victoria Gray Adams historical marker unveiled in Hattiesburg (Hattiesburg American). (Submitted on September 28, 2026, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.)

Victoria Jackson Gray Adams Marker looking north. image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, September 26, 2026

5. Victoria Jackson Gray Adams Marker looking north.

Credits. This page was last revised on September 28, 2026. It was originally submitted on September 28, 2026, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 4 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on September 28, 2026, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.