Exhibit Honors Yalobusha County's Black Voting Pioneers
North Mississippi Herald / Black Women of Yalobusha County
A September 10 North Mississippi Herald article by Dottie Chapman Reed previews the Emma Spencer Gooch Collection exhibit at Bozarts Gallery in Water Valley. The exhibit centers the Yalobusha County Voters League of the Mississippi Democratic Party and the local residents who registered voters, educated neighbors, kept records, and preserved materials from a pivotal period of Black civic organizing.
The exhibit is scheduled for Friday, September 18, and Saturday, September 19, 2026, at Bozarts Gallery, 403 N. Main St., Water Valley. The Herald article lists exhibit hours as 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days and notes a main Saturday program at 2 p.m. with family members, descendants, community guests, and civil-rights era music.
The collection is connected to the University of Mississippi Archives and Special Collections, where the Emma Spencer Gooch Files/Mississippi Voter Registration and Education League, Yalobusha County, Mississippi Collection documents membership cards, meeting minutes, and correspondence tied to African American voter registration work.