On March 9, 2022, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch and Jennifer Ingram Johnson presented “The Life and Career of Evelyn Gandy” as part of the History Is Lunch series.
Edythe Evelyn Gandy was born in 1920, only days after the 19th Amendment was ratified and granted women the right to vote in the United States. Gandy would become the first woman to hold constitutional statewide office in Mississippi when she was elected state treasurer in 1959. She went on to win elections for insurance commissioner in 1972 and lieutenant governor in 1975.
The Hattiesburg native graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi and earned her law degree from the University of Mississippi Law School, where she became to first female editor of the Mississippi Law Journal. Gandy worked for Gov. Theodore Bilbo just out of law school and was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1947.
“Evelyn Gandy shattered glass ceilings and blazed a mighty trail for the women in the State of Mississippi to excel in law and politics,” said Mississippi attorney general Lynn Fitch. “She was a strong advocate for all of Mississippi's people, regardless of color or ethnicity.”
As Commissioner of Public Welfare from 1964 to 1967, Gandy desegregated Public Welfare offices, removing the "white only" signs from water fountains and waiting rooms, and brought the department into full compliance with the Civil Rights Act within one year's time.
“Lt. Gov. Gandy’s devotion to Mississippians knew no boundaries, and her work in law and politics truly made a difference,” said Johnson.
Lynn Fitch was sworn in on January 9, 2020, as Mississippi’s 40th and first ever woman attorney general. Fitch earned her BA in business administration and her JD from the University of Mississippi. She served as Mississippi’s state treasurer from 2012 to 2020, when she was vice president for the National Association of Treasurers and chair of the State Financial Officers Foundation. Prior to that, she was executive director of the Mississippi State Personnel Board and served as deputy executive director at the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.
Jennifer Ingram Johnson is an attorney, mediator, consultant, and educator. She earned her BA in psychology from the University of Mississippi and her JD from the University of Louisville School of Law. Johnson practiced law with her mentor, Evelyn Gandy, in Hattiesburg. She is the founder and owner of Civil Solutions, LLC. Johnson serves as co chair of the Advisory Board for the Children's Center for Communication and Development on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi and on the Steering Committee for the Excel by 5 Coalition.
History Is Lunch is sponsored by the John and Lucy Shackelford Charitable Fund of the Community Foundation for Mississippi. The weekly lecture series of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History explores different aspects of the state's past. The hour-long programs are held in the Craig H. Neilsen Auditorium of the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum building at 222 North Street in Jackson.
