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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

Judy Alsobrooks Meredith Credit: Courtesy Judy Meredith

Name: Judy Alsobrooks Meredith

Location: Mississippi eCenter, Jackson

Occupation: Mass Communication Professor, Jackson State University

Age: 63

Married to: James Meredith

Lived in Jackson for: 28 years

JFP Reader Since: I’ve been reading the JFP since the very first issue.

Last book read: “A Mission from God: A Memoir and Challenge for America” by James Meredith with William Doyle

Send us a photo of you and your JFP somewhere interesting. You get a $20 gift certificate if we print it.

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The Mississippi Free Press produced this story through the MFP Solutions Lab, supported by the Solutions Journalism Network. This series digs into Mississippi’s systemic issues and sheds light on responses to them in other communities. Beyond just reporting on problems, these stories interrogate their causes and inspect potential solutions.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.