Victoria Gray Adams (1926 - 2006) led voter education classes for the black population of Hattiesburg, Mississippi in the early sixties and was a field secretary for SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). She was a founder of the Mississippi Freedom Demoratic Patrry, and along with Fannie Lou Hamer and Annie Devine led the 70-member contingent that attempted to be seated at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. They were removed from the floor and offered two seats as a compromise, to which Hamer replied, "We didn't come all this way for no two seats when all of us is tired. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired."
Mrs. Adams was also one of the chief organizers of COFO (Council of Federated Organizations), an umbrella group that enabled civil rights groups working in the south at that time to share resources and talents. At her urging, many of the planning meetings for the different groups took place at the Methodist Church in Palmer's Crossing (the African American section of Hattiesburg), and the church was opened to volunteers from around the country.
She later taught at the Royal Thai Army Languages Academy in Bangkok, Thailand and at Virginia State University where she was Director of Campus Ministry for 30 years. Her son, Rev. Dr. Cecil Conteen Gray, is a member of the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the UMC.
There are more pictures of Mrs.Adams and other participants in the Civil Rights Movement in and around Hattiesburg herehttp://www.crmvet.org/images/prandall.htm
