Hattiesburg's Former First Lady Johniece DuPree moments after filing to run for public office at the Forrest County Circuit Clerk's Office in Hattiesburg, MS.
"My main goal as election commissioner
is protecting the right to vote!"
All smiles. For the first time in her life, Hattiesburg's first African American First Lady has decided to run for political office, making this decision another historic moment given the fact that her husband, Dr. Johnny DuPree, served as Hattiesburg Mississippi's first African American Mayor for 16 consecutive years, becoming the longest serving mayor in Hattiesburg's history.
A famous quote reads, "Behind every great man there's a great woman!" That quote serves true to Johniece DuPree, as she has been the secret weapon behind her husband's successful political campaigns and whom yesterday, filed to run for Forrest County Election Commissioner District 2 to replace current Forrest County Election Commissioner Katie McGee who's not seeking re-election.
Mrs. DuPree is not the first First Lady to serve in a political office. Dating back since Oliver Hazard Perry Jones served as Hattiesburg's first mayor in 1865, the first First Lady to hold a political office was First Lady D. W. Holmes, who was provisionally appointed to serve as Mayor of The City of Hattiesburg after her husband, Mayor D. W. Holmes was killed in office by a drunk driver on December 18, 1950.
However, Mrs. DuPree is the 1st First Lady of Hattiesburg to actually run for a political office.
Making the occasion even more historic, given the fact that Mrs. DuPree served as the first African American First Lady, is her purpose for running in which she tells Hattiesburg News is to ensure the equal right to vote for all citizens of Forrest County, especially African Americans; a right that had to be federally enforced by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on June 16, 1965, not only after then Forrest County Circuit Clerk Theron C. Lynd refused to allow black people to register to vote but also because the United States District Court refused to grant an injunction to let black people register to vote in Forrest County, Mississippi.
This case, United States of America, Appellant, v. Theron C. Lynd, Circuit Clerk and Registrar of Voters of Forrest County; and the State of Mississippi, Appellees, 349 F.2d 785 (5th Cir. 1965), set precedent and changed American history by enforcing the right that all African Americans could freely register to vote without discriminations anywhere in America including in the deep South, and more specifically in Forrest County, a county named after the founder & first Supreme Grand Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan, Nathan Bedford Forrest.
According to former first lady, she is running to preserve that freedom that blacks actually got only 58 years ago, compared that to the fact that America itself is 247 years old. Reflecting on that history, Mrs. DuPree tells Hattiesburg News, "My main goal as election commissioner is protecting the right to vote!"
Asked how she plans to protect the right to vote, she says she will introduce her 3 V strategy: "Voter Education, Voter Registration, & Voter Participation." Asked by Hattiesburg News how she will explement her strategy, she softly whispered, "Well, God's willing, we have to win this election first!"
Mrs. DuPree went into great detail about how humble she is by the opportunity to seek public office to continue serving the people in her community.
"Although this is my first election, I'm in love with the great people for Forrest County. I'm in love with helping people. I'm in love with serving people. I'm humbled and excited that God has blessed me with this opportunity to continue to do what I love to do best, helping all God's children," candidate DuPree passionately expressed.
A very well respected pillar in the community, Mrs. DuPree is poised to run unopposed. Her passion to ensure the freedoms that so many have sacrificed their lives to make possible, made her actions yesterday, filing immediately after the Martin Luther King holiday, that much more significant. Mrs. DuPree was accompanied by her daughter, Dr. Monica DuPree, a university professor, and her husband, Mayor Emeritus Dr. Johnny DuPree, a decorated public servant.
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