Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

Negatives in this collection are not available for same day access. Contact wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the John Messina Collection on the Charles Evers Mississippi Gubernatorial Campaign #05798, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from John Messina in August 2019 (Acc. 103682).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Patrick Cullom, September 2019

Encoded by: Patrick Cullom, September 2019

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• African American politicians--Mississippi--Photographs.
• African American politicians--Mississippi.
• African Americans--Civil rights--Mississippi--Photographs.
• African Americans--Civil rights--Mississippi.
• Civil rights movements--Mississippi--Photographs.
• Civil rights movements--Mississippi.
• Evers, Charles, 1922-
• Messina, John, 1940-
• Mississippi--Politics and government--1951--Photographs.
• Mississippi--Politics and government--1951.
• Mississippi--Race relations--Photographs.
• Mississippi--Race relations.

John Messina provided the following biographical information* in August 2019:

In 1971, Charles Evers, brother of the slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers, ran for governor of Mississippi. John Messina was a freelance photographer based in New Orleans, La. In an ongoing effort to document changes that were taking place in the South, Messina "self-assigned" himself to photograph the Charles Evers campaign. For five months, he and his wife, Tania Messina, would drive to Mississippi from their home in New Orleans in order to photograph statewide rallies, meetings, as well as activities at the Jackson, Miss. campaign headquarters. Having gained the trust and support of Charles Evers and his staff, Messina received complete cooperation and access to the campaign. Evers’ attempt to become governor appeared to most people to be a quixotic endeavor considering that statewide demographics did not favor an African American candidate. However, it soon became apparent to Messina that Evers was not only running for governor, but by his candidacy he also was attempting to provide encouragement and support to the many black candidates for lesser offices in numerous Mississippi towns and counties.

*John Messina's original text was lightly edited to conform with the style guide in use.

Photographs created by white photographer John Messina, documenting the 1971 Mississippi gubernatorial campaign of Charles Evers. Charles Evers, an African American politician and civil rights activist, was elected mayor of Fayette, Miss., from 1969 to 1981 and from 1985 to 1989. In 1971 he ran an unsuccessful campaign for Governor of Mississippi. Evers' brother, Medgar Evers, was a civil rights activist who was assassinated by a white supremacist in 1963. Images depict Charles Evers holding statewide rallies, community meetings, and activities at the campaign headquarters in Jackson, Miss.