Thousands of voting rights supporters gathered at Mississippi's War Memorial Building on Wednesday, rallying against a push by Republican leaders to redraw congressional districts in ways that would strip Black political power across the South. The demonstration drew activists from multiple states and was held deliberately at a site steeped in the state's history of racial disenfranchisement.
The timing and location carried symbolic weight. In 1890, white supremacist legislators convened at the nearby Old Capitol and enacted the state constitution implementing the "Mississippi Plan," a scheme designed explicitly to prevent Black voters from exercising political power. More than a century later, Governor Tate Reeves called a special legislative session set to occur at that same Old Capitol building, this time to redraw congressional districts following a landmark Supreme Court decision.
The court's ruling in Louisiana v. Callais gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act that had blocked states from passing redistricting maps that discriminate against Black voters. Amir Badat, southern states director at Fair Fight Action, said the consequences would be severe. "Section 2 stopped states, counties, cities, from passing redistricting maps that discriminate against Black voters and it led to the biggest growth of Black political power since Reconstruction," he told the crowd. "And now, the Roberts court has opened the door to the biggest destruction of Black political power since the end of Reconstruction."
Already, states across the South have moved to redraw their maps. Florida's Republicans signed a new congressional map shortly after the court decision. Tennessee Republicans eliminated the state's lone Black congressional district. Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina and Georgia are all pursuing similar redistricting efforts to dilute Black electoral influence.
Mississippi, where nearly 40 percent of the population is Black, was expected to join the rush. Reeves initially announced he would call a special session for May 20 to redraw districts. He later reversed course but signaled the state would complete new maps before the 2027 elections.
The rally coalition included the People's Advocacy Institute, Mississippi Votes, the Mississippi Poor People's Campaign, Fair Fight Action, the NAACP and other organizations. It followed an earlier "All Roads Lead to the South" rally in Montgomery, Alabama, the previous weekend.
Marchers carried signs bearing images of Medgar Evers, the Mississippi NAACP field secretary murdered for his voting rights work. "Protect our vote" and "Jim Crow Must Go" placards dotted the crowd as speakers took the stage. The demonstration featured freedom songs from the civil rights era, church-style call and response, and prayers evoking Black spiritual traditions.
The crowd processed from the Old Capitol past the state house, governor's mansion and other government buildings before swelling to thousands at the Jackson Convention Complex, where the rally continued.
Danyelle Holmes, a senior organizer with the Poor People's Campaign, framed the gathering as a direct confrontation. "We had to come here to the crime scene because it's time to arrest the state of Mississippi," she said. "Today we come to serve notice that we will not go back to the days of Jim Crow. We will not go back to 1890. We are a people who will take a stand and fight."
On the convention stage, speakers included U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson, whose district Mississippi Republicans have specifically targeted for elimination, NAACP President Derrick Johnson, and author Eddie Glaude.
Justin Jones, a Tennessee state representative, drove six hours from Nashville to participate. "We're not going down without a fight," he told the crowd. "We may not be a swing state in Mississippi or Tennessee or Alabama, but we'll swing back on you. We'll fight back with everything we have. We come in the spirit of our ancestors. We come in the spirit of those who aren't intimidated by bully clubs and water hoses. We are an intergenerational movement. We come as one, but we stand as 10,000."
Author James Rodriguez: "This rally shows the South's voting rights battle is far from settled, and activists understand exactly what's at stake in the maps being drawn right now."
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