Wilson F. "Bill" Minor Papers

Collection

Identifier: MSS-80

Staff Only

Content Description

Correspondence, speeches, press releases, campaign materials, clippings, photographs, and other documents amassed in the course of Minor's career as a journalist in Mississippi.

Dates

Majority of material found within 1936 - 2000

Conditions Governing Access

Open to all researchers.

Conditions Governing Use

Any requests for permission to publish, quote, or reproduce materials from this collection must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian for Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Mississippi State University as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Biographical Note

Wilson F. "Bill" Minor was born in Hammond, Louisiana, in 1922 and received his degree in journalism from Tulane University. He began work for the New Orleans Times-Picayune in 1937, as a sports reporter. Durinhg World War II, he joined the Navy as a commissioned offier and served on the U.S.S. Stephen Potter. He returned to the paper in 1945, and was posted to Jackson in 1947. He wrote his "Eyes on Mississippi" column until the paper's Jackson bureau was closed in 1976.

While working for the Times-Picayune, Minor covered several landmark moments in the history of Mississippi politics and the Civil Rights and Mississippi, including the funeral of Sen. Theodore Bilbo, the trial of Emmett Till, in 1955, the integration of the University of Mississippi (and the riot that followed) in 1962, the funeral of Medgar Evers in 1963, and the murder of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, MS, in 1964.

After the Times-Picayune Jackson bureau closed, Minor elected to stay in Jackson and take over the editorship of the weekly Capitol Reporter. In 1981, Minor became a syndicated political columnist and television commentator. He continued to write a weekly column, also called Eyes on Mississippi, through Novmeber of 2016. Minor died in Jackson, MS, in 2017.

Source: Pope, John, "Wilson "Bill" Minor, civil rights journalist and former Times-Picayune reporter, dies at 94", NOLA.com, March 29, 2017/July 7, 2021.