GREENWOOD, Miss.—The smell of collard greens and green beans wafted through the arena of the Andrew McQueen, Jr. Civic Center on Thursday, Oct. 2. Dignitaries, clergymen and local listeners shuffled through the rows of white table cloths and wine, waiting for the start of the 23rd Annual Beans and Greens Dinner in Leflore County.
Robert Sims, the chairman of the dinner and of the Leflore County Democratic Executive Committee, has been leading this meal in Leflore County for 12 years.
“It brings the community together as a whole. It helps us to look at our past and (acknowledge) where we come from and are now to make plans for the future,” Sims told the Mississippi Free Press.
The Beans and Greens Dinner started decades ago as an evening gathering for the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, a group of Black Democrats who pushed for greater participation in the wider Democratic Party—and who even challenged the state party’s all-white delegation at the 1964 Democratic convention. There, Fannie Lou Hamer spoke to the nation with an impassioned address excoriating Mississippi’s political establishment for its system of Jim Crow segregation.
“If the Freedom Democratic Party is not seated now, I question America,” Hamer said. The party offered a compromise to allow two MFDP delegates two at-large seats alongside the all-white delegation, but the MFDP rejected the offer, with Hamer saying “we didn’t come all this way for no two seats.”
In an effort to build stronger, closer ties between party members in the Delta, local MFDP organizers were encouraged to share a simple meal amongst themselves. With limited resources, an inexpensive “soul food” menu with items such as beans, smoked meat, collard greens and cornbread became the standard for Southern plates at the dinner.
‘We Have to Go Back Local ’
Though the meals have evolved, the traditional beans and greens are still served today. While members of the Democratic Party enjoyed their hallmark meal, Jackson Mayor John Horhn delivered a keynote address.
During his address, Horhn emphasized the importance of localizing activism in the community. He said that the work done on local levels is what helps or hinders the progress of the state and federal government.
“We have to go back local. We have to get our house in order at the local level,” Horhn said.
Voters elected Horhn, a longtime state senator, as the mayor of the capital city on July 1. After running for mayor three times, his fourth attempt proved successful when he ousted incumbent Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba in the Democratic primary.
Horhn encouraged party members to practice a sense of togetherness to aid in community efforts.
“We cannot allow folks to continue to divide us. We cannot let each other continue to divide us,” the capital city mayor said.
At the event, Horhn sat with Kenderick Cox, who became Greenwood’s mayor after winning the June election and is the first Black man to serve as the city’s mayor.
Growing Greenwood
Robert Sims, a community organizer and political commentator in Greenwood, is a proponent of local community work.
“The local community believes in grassroots. If we are going to make a difference in our congressional district and our state level, we have to start local. The local level is what gets the people involved,” Sims said in an interview with the Mississippi Free Press.
Dazondria Curry, the director of CURRage 2 Change, believes that local activism should be extended to young people as well. She wanted to introduce the children to local politics and formal settings.
“One of our objectives is civic engagement. I just wanted the kids to get an opportunity to see the Democratic Party. (My organization) helps redirect the kids to overcome challenges and direct their paths,” Curry said.
The director of the non-profit youth development program has created an organization geared towards being a solution-oriented entity to some of the problems that young people face in Greenwood.
“There are a lot of problems that are occurring in Greenwood, such as drop-out rates, gun violence and teen pregnancy. I have a lot of objectives in my program that are solutions to at least one, if not all of the needs that kids are faced with,” the director expressed.
In addition to local community groups, Jones Chapel Missionary Baptist Church #2 Pastor Dr. Leroy Williams Jr. says that churches are a staple of local community activism.
“The church is very important to organizing and activism because we have the connection between God and the people. If we do what we are supposed to do, God will hear us and change things,” Williams told the Mississippi Free Press.
Honoring a Legacy
The Jackson mayor concluded his conversation about the importance of local activism by honoring the legacy of retired Democratic Mississippi Sen. David Jordan, a longtime champion of voting rights who represented Mississippi Senate District 24. The 92-year-old senator served in the Mississippi State Senate for 33 years before retiring at the end of June 2025.
“I hate to leave, but my wife of 71 years—born on the same day, we’ve been married 71 years—she needs me at home,” Jordan said on the Mississippi Senate floor on May 28.
His successor will be determined in a special election in November.
A native of Leflore County, the former sharecropper overcame racial and political obstacles to serve in the Mississippi Capitol. His book, “From the Mississippi Cotton Fields to the State Senate,” tells the story of his journey from picking cotton in the fields of the Mississippi Delta to making policy in the Mississippi Capitol Building.
Horhn presented Jordan with a declaration of honor, showing appreciation for his lifetime commitment to Mississippi’s progress.
“This man marched on. This man persevered, and we owe him a world of gratitude,” Horhn said.