Biography
Mary Jean Smith was a nineteen-year-old Tennessee State University student when she joined the May 28, 1961 Freedom Ride from Nashville to Jackson, Mississippi. Police arrested her at the bus station, and a court imposed a sixty-day sentence. Smith was confined first in the Hinds County jail and then at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. She was released on bond after serving 39 days and returned home to learn that Tennessee State had expelled her for participating in the ride.
