This list contains people who were born or lived in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Activists and advocates Ruby Bridges (born 1954), first African-American child to attend an all-white school in the South (Tylertown) Will D. Campbell (1924–2013), Baptist minister and activist (Amite County) James Chaney (1943–1964), civil rights activist (Meridian) Vernon Dahmer (1908–1966), civil rights activist (Hattiesburg) Charles Evers (1922–2020), civil rights leader, mayor of Fayette (Decatur) Medgar Evers (1925–1963), civil rights leader (Decatur) Myrlie Evers-Williams (born 1933), civil rights activist, journalist (Vicksburg) C. L. Franklin (1915–1984), Baptist minister, father of Aretha Franklin (Shelby) Lloyd L. Gaines (1911–1939?), challenged segregation at University of Missouri School of Law, disappeared in 1939 (Water Valley) Duncan M. Gray Jr. (1926–2016), Episcopal clergyman, civil rights activist (Canton) Winifred Green (1937–2016), civil rights activist (Jackson) Percy Greene (1897–1977), journalist, activist (Jackson) Lawrence Guyot (1939–2012), civil rights activist (Pass Christian) Fannie Lou Hamer (1917–1977), civil rights, voting rights activist (Ruleville) Winson Hudson (1916–2004), civil rights activist (Harmony) Clyde Kennard (1927–1963), civil rights activist (Hattiesburg) Germany Kent (born 1975), journalist, social activist (Greenville) Edwin King (born 1936), civil rights activist, Tougaloo College chaplain (Jackson) Joyce Ann Ladner (born 1943), civil rights activist and educator (Wayne County) Angela McGlowan (born 1970), Republican political commentator, author, and consulting firm CEO James Meredith (born 1933), first African-American student at the University of Mississippi (Kosciusko) Anne Moody (1940–2015), civil rights activist, author (Centreville) Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862–1931), civil rights activist, women's rights activist (Holly Springs) Actors and actresses Mary Alice (born 1941), actress (Indianola) Dana Andrews (1909–1992), actor (Covington County) Fred Armisen (born 1966), actor, comedian, and musician (Hattiesburg) Roscoe Ates (1895–1962), actor and musician (Grange) Katherine Bailess (born 1980), film and television actress (Vicksburg) Laura Bailey (born 1981), voice actress (Biloxi) Earl W. Bascom (1906–1995), actor (Columbia) Willie Best (1916–1962), television and film actor (Sunflower) Jimmy Boyd (1939–2009), singer and actor (McComb) Don Briscoe (1940–2004), soap opera actor (Yalobusha County) Geneva Carr (born 1971), television and stage actress (Jackson) Finn Carter (born 1960), actress (Greenville) Wally Cassell (1912–2015), film and television actor Lacey Chabert (born 1982), film and television actress (Purvis) Alvin Childress (1907–1986), actor (Meridian) Gary Collins (1938–2012), film and television actor (Biloxi) Wyatt Emory Cooper (1927–1978), Broadway actor (Quitman) Cassi Davis (born 1964) (Holly Springs) John Dye (1963–2011), film and television actor (Amory) Mary Elizabeth Ellis (born 1979), television and film actress (Laurel) J. D. Evermore (born