Dates: 1950-1951; 1996.

Biography:

Reverend Dwyn M. Mounger

Dwyn Milton Mounger was born in Collins, Covington County, Mississippi, on July 1, 1906, the second of four children of Milton Uriah Mounger, an attorney, and Alma Rachel McKenzie Mounger. He graduated from Collins High School in 1923 and received a bachelor of arts degree with honors from Millsaps College in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, in 1928. In 1931, he graduated with honors from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, with bachelor of divinity and master of divinity degrees. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister that same year. He spent the year after his ordination studying at New College, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, as an Anna Whitner Fellow.

In 1932, Mounger began serving as pastor of Forest Presbyterian Church in Forest, Scott County, Mississippi. He stayed there until 1943, when World War II led him to enlist as a chaplain in the United States Army Air Corps. He served until 1946, when he was discharged as a major, having served as chaplain at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Harrison County, Mississippi. He remained a chaplain in the Army Reserve as a lieutenant colonel until 1966.

Upon leaving active military service, Mounger became pastor of Carthage Presbyterian Church in Carthage, Leake County, Mississippi, where he served until 1951. While in Carthage, Mounger in November 1948 originated and directed a “good will festival” with the goal of creating understanding between local African American, Choctaw Native American, and white residents. Conducted with the assistance of several local civic organizations, the day-long festival featured Native American dances, a game of “Choctaw stickball,” singing by both Native Americans and African Americans, and a speech on racial harmony. The following year, the festival became an annual event known as the “Tri-Racial Goodwill Festival” and was held every fall through 1951. The festival eventually expanded to include a Native American arts and crafts exhibition and sale, more speakers, a larger variety of musical performances, and a pageant. Speakers throughout the years of the festival included J. R. Otis, president of Alcorn A&M College in Lorman, Jefferson County, Mississippi; William D. McCain, director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History; and Joe Chitto, chief of the Choctaw Council. The Tri-Racial Goodwill Festival ended when Mounger left Carthage and returned to his previous congregation in Forest, where he served until 1954.

From 1954 to 1968, Mounger served as executive secretary of the Committee on Church Extension of the Central Mississippi Presbytery, based in Jackson. In that capacity he helped found and organize fifteen new churches, mostly in the Jackson area. In 1964, he and other religious leaders in Mississippi founded the Committee of Concern, based in Jackson, which sought donations and volunteers to rebuild burned African American churches with fireproof brick. The Committee raised over $100,000 and successfully rebuilt around forty churches throughout the state.

In 1968, Mounger returned to congregational ministry as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Bay St. Louis, Hancock County, Mississippi. He served there during Hurricane Camille, offering refuge in his home for storm victims. Mounger retired from full-time ministry in 1974, but continued to serve on an interim or part-time basis at churches around southern Mississippi. In 1986, he founded the “World-Wide Grass Roots Peace Crusade,” twice traveling to China over the next two years and demonstrating for peace there.

Mounger married Bessie Mecklin Ingram on June 16, 1932. The couple had three children. After her death, he married Christine Dawson Renshaw on June 11, 1972; she survived him. Dwyn Milton Mounger died of pneumonia on November 23, 1998, at Hancock Medical Center in Bay St. Louis. He was buried at Lakewood Memorial Park in Jackson.

 

Scope and Content Note:

This collection consists of correspondence; meeting notes and summaries; programs; scripts; financial records; and a list of contest winners, all related to the third and fourth annual Tri-Racial Goodwill Festivals held in Carthage, Mississippi, and directed by Rev. Dwyn M. Mounger. The third festival was held on October 19, 1950, and the fourth on October 25, 1951. The collection contains material relating to all aspects of the planning and celebration of the festivals, particularly coordination between the various community organizations involved and the editing of scripts for the program. Also included are an invitation and program from the 1996 celebration of Mounger’s ninetieth birthday and sixty-fifth year of ministry.

1 Folder