Dorothy L. Bishop

Dorothy L. Bishop was a civil rights activist for more than fifty years. She withdrew from school at a  young age,  and began her work to change the inequities that existed in the community. She became involved in the civil rights movement, joining with the civil rights leaders at that time, including Dr. Douglas L. Conner. She served as the youth advisor for the county’s youth NAACP chapter for twelve years, building leaders. She worked her way up in the NAACP to eventually become the first female president of the Oktibbeha County NAACP in 1993. Among her activities were registering people to vote and helping elect people who would better the lives of the citizens in the community, including the first black Oktibbeha County supervisor. She was awarded several honors, including the 1994 NAACP Fannie Lou Hamer Award.  Through the years she took part in several civil rights marches in Mississippi and Washington DC.

In 2005, she founded the Oktibbeha County Coalition of Concerned Citizens. In that role, she worked to have civil rights leaders honored, after seeing Civil War, WW I and WWII soldiers honored in front of the Oktibbeha County Courthouse. She approached the county supervisors and pointed out the inequity and they listened. The result is the Oktibbeha County Unity Park.