[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 14, 2026)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E687]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONORING THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN MISSISSIPPI HIGHWAY PATROL TROOPERS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 14, 2026

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a 
very pivotal time within the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
  In 1970, Willie L. Morrow and Jerome Mangum, with representation from 
the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, filed suit against 
the leadership of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. The 
case, Morrow v. Crisler, challenged the Department's long-standing 
exclusion of African Americans from employment as Mississippi Highway 
Partol troopers. At the time, the Mississippi Highway Patrol, 
established in 1939, had never employed a Black state trooper.
  Evidence presented in federal court demonstrated a pattern and 
practice of racial discrimination in hiring and recruitment. The court 
found that African Americans had effectively been excluded from trooper 
positions. Federal judges ordered the Department of Public Safety to 
eliminate discriminatory practices and adopt affirmative measures to 
recruit qualified Black applicants.
  Following court orders issued in 1971, by early 1972, the Department 
began actively recruiting African-American candidates for positions 
within the Mississippi Highway Patrol. Recruitment efforts were 
directed toward Black communities, colleges, military veterans, and 
other qualified applicants throughout Mississippi. Applications from 
African-American candidates were processed for admission into the next 
Highway Patrol training class.
  On June 18, 1972, five African-American men entered Cadet Class No. 
12 at the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy in 
Pearl, Mississippi, to train as Mississippi Highway Patrol troopers. 
Their admission followed federal court rulings in Morrow v. Crisler, 
which challenged discriminatory hiring practices within the Mississippi 
Department of Public Safety. The class was the first in the history of 
the Mississippi Highway Patrol, organized in 1939, to include African-
American cadets. Of the five men admitted--James Cheeks, Walter C. 
Crosby, Sr., Arthur Marble, Richard ``R.O.'' Williams, and Lewis 
Younger, Jr.--three graduated on September 1, 1972: Walter C. Crosby, 
Sr., R.O. Williams, and Lewis Younger, Jr. They became the first 
African-American troopers in the history of the Mississippi Highway 
Patrol.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the 
integration of the Mississippi Highway Patrol and the men who helped 
pave the path for future generations of African-American officers.

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