Douglas Conner Papers

Box 1 contains political materials from Conner’s personal campaigns and the state and national Democratic Party, including literature from the Democratic National Convention of 1972, a sample ballot for the 1980 election, maps and other information about Oktibbeha County election districts from 1968-1983, tickets to the 1984 National Convention, a program from the 1992 Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner (autographed inside by keynote speaker Hillary Clinton), and an invitation to the inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1993. The box also contains documents related to the Mississippi chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), including a program book from the 35th annual convention held in Starkville in 1980, as well as materials relating to suits on holding of parades, access to voter registration records and a case concerning the Mississippi Code. There are also a call for a boycott of businesses that refuse to hire African-American employees, and an open letter to the Starkville Board of Aldermen outlining local African-American concerns.

Box 2 contains documentation of the desegregation of Starkville public schools from 1965-1970, including School Board Policies and Administrative Procedures, a pamphlet called “Racial Isolation in the Public Schools,” a list of petitioners to desegregate the schools, and the school desegregation requests of the Oktibbeha County Branch of the NAACP. Other materials include plans for desegregation (such as additional facilities required), renovations to the Henderson Complex and Emerson School, Handbook for Professional Staff Members in Starkville public schools (1970), a form for survey of attitudes, a rubric for teacher evaluation, boycott signs, and legal materials from Conner et al v. Palmer et al. Materials from Conner’s medical career include school diagrams and notes, as well as Conner’s speech before the Mississippi Medical and Surgical Association in 1968 and interview transcripts. In 2011 the Mississippi House of Representatives honored Conner and the proclamation is in Folder 19, Box 2. The box contains other miscellany from Conner’s life and career, including certificates, newspaper clippings, programs, and photocopies of related materials from other collections.

The series Visual Materials includes photographs of Conner as a senior at Eureka High School in Hattiesburg (1939), Conner’s graduating classes at Alcorn (1943) and Howard University School of Medicine (1950), Conner and other servicemen at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D. C. (1945), the Mississippi Medical and Surgical Association (1958), Conner with President Richard Nixon (1970), Conner with President Jimmy Carter (1978; autographed), Jesse Jackson (1984), Conner’s medical offices in Starkville, and other photographs of Conner, his family, and associations. There is a video tape, a DVD of the June 2011 tribute to Conner, and a crayon portrait also.