Florence Mars
Miss Florence Mars was born New Year's Day, 1923, in the
small Mississippi city of Philadelphia, Neshoba County. Her
education through high school was taken in Philadelphia. For
her higher education, she studied both at Millsaps College,
in Jackson, and subsequently at the University of
Mississippi, where she graduated in 1944. Although her life has been tied closely to her native
Philadelphia, Miss Mars has spent extended periods
elsewhere, including an eighteen months in Atlanta working
for an airline, and two years in New Orleans as a
photographer. Business interests caused her to spend parts
of her time in her native home while working in New Orleans.
As she summarizes it, "I had a cattle farm. . .that I
operated and had someone else to manage. In 1957, I bought
the Neshoba County Livestock Sale, which. . .handles cattle,
mules, horses, hogs, and geese even." Of Neshoba County she recalls that because "I thought it was
about the center of the universe. . .I was very surprised
when I got to Millsaps to discover people even in other
parts of Mississippi looked on Neshoba County as very
backward." This realization, plus her personal convictions
related to human values led her to become "a maverick" in
her own society as the storm over racial segregation
descended on her native state. Philadelphia became the
locale of a bizarre murder case and internationally
notorious when three civil rights workers were killed and
buried in an earthen dam in Neshoba County. Her efforts to
determine the truth, and to work toward justice brought her
under great pressure, including economic discrimination and
near ostracism. As a result of her experiences Miss Mars authored the book,
Witness in Philadelphia, which was an alternate selection of
the Book of the Month Club. She currently is interested in
preserving the history of her native town and county through
photographs, tape recordings and other means.
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Series
Books:Witness in Philadelphia, March 1989
Hardcover
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