Meridian to mark Heidelberg with Read In

May 4—Meridian residents are encouraged to celebrate the life and legacy of one of the Queen City's most impactful women Monday by taking part in the fourth annual "Miss Polly" Glover Heidelberg Read Aloud Read In.

Heidelberg, who was raised by her aunt as the youngest of three children, grew up in Meridian working odd jobs and joined the Council of Federated Organizations in the 1960's. The council was a coalition of movements coordinating their efforts to help register Black Americans to vote.

Her efforts during the Civil Rights era led to her arrest on multiple occasions for non-violent protests, including at the Winn-Dixie and Bills Dollar Store.

In 1964, a massive effort to register Black Americans to vote called Freedom Summer brought white and Black college students to the south, and Heidelberg quickly became a surrogate mother for Michael and Rita Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, who were from New York, and Meridianite James Chaney. The three men, Goodman, Chaney and Michael Schwerner, were later murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in rural Neshoba County.

The Schwerners were also instrumental in helping Heidelberg learn to read.

Since then, Heidelberg has been awarded the Fannie Lou Hamer award from The Mississippi Conference of the NAACP for her activism, featured in the New York Times magazine and received other awards and recognition for her achievements.

Heidelberg died Nov. 6, 1995, at the age of 82.

On Monday, May 6, which is Polly Glover Heidelberg's birthday, residents are encouraged to read about her legacy and reflect on the bravery she showed by speaking out against racism and segregation.

Contact Thomas Howard at thoward@themeridianstar.com