Who was C.O. Chinn?

C.O. Chinn was a black man in Canton, Mississippi, born September 18, 1919 in Madison County. In the 1960's, he owned a farm, a rhythm and blues nightclub, a bootlegging operation, and a large collection of pistols, rifles, and shotguns with which he threatened local Klansmen and police when they attempted to encroach on his businesses or intimidate civil rights activists working to desegregate Canton and register black residents to vote."

“After one confrontation, in which a pistol-packing Chinn forced the notoriously racist and brutal local sheriff to stand down inside the county courthouse during a hearing for a civil rights worker, the lawman admitted, ‘There are only two bad sons of b*tches in this county: me and that n*gger C.O. Chinn.’”

Chinn is thought of as the "father"of the civil rights in Madison County. He was one of the organizers for the Madison County CORE chapter, and headed many Civil Rights marches, rallies, and meetings in the county. Chinn was responsible for helping desegregate public places in the county and for making racial equality mandatory across the county. Chinn paid for his involvement in the movement by losing nearly all of his property and serving a term on the chain gang, but he never stopped agitating. In recognition of his contributions to the Civil Rights movement, Canton declared May 2, 1999 as C.O. Chinn Day.