Major Works
- Aaron Henry: The Fire Ever Burning (with Constance Curry) (2000)
Biography of Aaron Henry
Born in Coahoma County, Mississippi, near Clarksdale, in 1922, Aaron Henry was the son of sharecroppers. He graduated from Coahoma County Agricultural School in 1941. He was drafted into the army in 1943 and was a staff sergeant in World War II, stationed in Hawaii. He attended Xavier College in New Orleans, Louisiana, on the G.I. Bill, where he earned a Pharmacy degree in 1950.
Henry opened a pharmacy/drug store in Clarksdale. The drug store became a “gathering place and the hub for political and civil rights planning for three decades.” (Curry, 2011).
Henry was involved in local and state politics and civil rights activities, including African-American voter registration. In 1959, he was elected president of the Mississippi NAACP and continued to work in the NAACP for 20 years. He was elected Chairman of the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) in 1962. He helped to organize the “freedom vote” held concurrent with the Mississippi governor’s election in 1963. Henry worked to create the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP).
In 1979, Henry was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives and served until 1996. He died in 1997.
Related Websites
- Aaron Henry was an unsung hero. African American Registry (2002)
- Description of the book: Aaron Henry: The Fire Ever Burning. University Press of Mississippi.
- Oral History with Dr. Aaron henry, prominent civil rights worker. Civil Rights Digital Library
- Mississippi Civil Rights Project: Aaron Henry