Gilbert R. Mason
Gilbert R Mason, Sr (October 7, 1928 – July 8, 2006), was a civil rights leader and physician from Biloxi, Mississippi. He was born on October 7, 1928, in Jackson, Mississippi, to Willie Atwood Mason and Alean Jackson Mason. He served as the vice president of the Mississippi Conference of the NAACP for 33 years. He was an associate of Medgar Evers. Mason was with Evers the Sunday before Evers was killed. He served as a pallbearer at the Evers funeral.) He was the president of the Biloxi branch of the NAACP. Mason is most famous for organizing and participating in the first nonviolent civil disobedience action, the wade-ins at Biloxi beach that started in 1959 as a protest to the segregation of the waterfront.[1]
Mason's contribution to the civil rights movement was commemorated in May 2009 with the state of Mississippi designating a section of U.S. Highway 90 near Biloxi as the "Dr. Gilbert Mason Sr. Memorial Highway."[2]
Mason died on July 8, 2006, in Ocean Springs, Jackson County, Mississippi.
References
- ↑ Mason, Gilbert R. (2000). Beaches Blood, and Ballots. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 1578062780.
- ↑ Newsom, Michael (May 17, 2009). "Marker Honors Struggle of Many". Sun Herald. Biloxi, MS. Retrieved October 4, 2016 – via Newsbank.