Bought by two African American doctors, Doctor Fielder and Doctor Brooks in the late 1940s, this was the first drug store for black residents of Meridian. The Meridian area COFO office was located in the upper story of this building in the early 1960s. Voter registration drives and other Civil Rights activities took place here, headed by Michael Schwerner. Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman were murdered while in Neshoba County on June 21, 1964, investigating the burning of a rural African American church. This building was demolished in 2014. It is mentioned in "Buildings of Mississippi" (2020) (p. 216, as part of the listing for the E.F. Young Hotel, EM12). |