Those who knew him best say that Newton H. James was a brave man at a time when such bravery came at the risk of life and livelihood in Mississippi. James, former mayor of McComb, died Thursday, June 13, at age 96.
In the turbulent 1960s, James was party to a redistricting lawsuit to ensure fair voting in Pike County. He was also a member of a small, bi-racial committee that stepped up to end racial violence in the community.
"Our town was in turmoil, and there was no indication that anybody was offering a solution to what appeared to be gridlock," Norman Gillis Jr., a local attorney who knew Newton for more than 60 years, told the Enterprise-Journal. "Newt was a member of a very small group who personally rounded up the members of the black and white communities and quietly got a consensus of a large committee, which was willing to put an ad in the paper."
That ad, the committee's statement of principles, ran in the Enterprise-Journal in 1964. James was one of the men who wrote it. The group advocated for all people to show respect to one another and stop the violence tearing the community apart.
"It served to calm things down," Gillis said. "It was a brave move at the time."
Charles Dunagin, retired editor of the Enterprise-Journal, remembered James as a man who "was always on the right side" of tough problems. The paper awarded James a lifetime achievement award in 2001.
Originally, James' family was from Leakesville, where James was born in 1916. They moved to Clinton in 1928, and James graduated from Clinton High School. He attended Mississippi College and eventually attained a master's degree in history and political science from the University of Mississippi. James taught briefly at the high school and community college level.
James and his wife, Mary Lucile Ward James, who survives him, moved to McComb in 1945 where he eventually opened an insurance agency. He retired from that business in 1982, after which he ran a successful campaign to become the city's mayor. James served as mayor of McComb from 1983 to 1987.
In addition to his wife of 71 years, the couple's son and daughter, two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren survive James.
Services were held this morning at J. J. White Memorial Presbyterian Church in McComb.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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