Civil Rights Figure Dies In Mississippi

Aaron E. Henry, a powerful voice for civil rights who helped open the state’s Democratic Party to blacks, died Monday at 74.

Henry led voter registration drives, boycotts and sit-ins as head of the state NAACP during the 1960s.

From 1980 to 1996, he served in the Mississippi House, fighting for improved health care and housing for the poor.

He was also chairman of the board of TV 3 Inc., which owns WLBT-TV in Jackson. He helped challenge the station’s white ownership because black candidates were denied air time.

The Federal Communications Commission revoked WLBT’s license in 1971 because of discrimination complaints.

After about a 15-year fight, a coalition of blacks won the license in 1984 and WLBT became the first TV station in Mississippi with a majority-black ownership.