1.2 Water Valley, Mississippi, Birthplace of Lloyd Gaines

Lloyd Gaines was born in Water Valley, Mississippi in 1911. Gaines’ family was sharecroppers outside the small Mississippi town, toiling in the cotton fields which caused Lloyd’s school attendance to be quite sporadic.

1.3 John D. Taylor, Democrat, MO House of Representatives, 39th District

However, the State of Missouri was not going to go down without a fight. In mid- January, 1939, John D. Taylor, a representative from Keytesville, MO, introduced a bill in the Missouri legislature designed to postpone integration of the University. Taylor, chairman of the House Appropriations committee, proudly called himself “an unreconstructed rebel.” Taylor’s proposal, House Bill No. 195, authorized Lincoln University to “establish whatever graduate and professional schools are necessary to the equivalent of the University of Missouri.”

1937 Eloise Jackson Taylor

1937-1938 Miss Homecoming