Mississippi physician, civil rights leader dies at age 82

Published 11:12 am Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Well-known African-American physician and civil rights activist Dr. James Anderson has died. He was 82.

A spokeswoman for People’s Funeral Home in Jackson confirmed that Dr. James Anderson died Monday. WLBT-TV reports Anderson died at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The cause of death has not been released.

Anderson helped establish the Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center, where he was chief executive until his retirement in 1998.

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Mississippi lawmakers honored Anderson in 2017, noting he had worked for more than 50 years to provide health care in low-income, uninsured and minority communities.

Anderson was part of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee during the civil rights movement.

He was one of the first three African-American doctors to earn full hospital privileges in the Mississippi State Medical Association.