Oral history with the Honorable Mildred W. Norris, attorney, jurist, native Mississippian

              Oral history with the Honorable Mildred W. Norris, attorney, jurist, native Mississippian
This oral history is provided through a cooperative project of University of Southern Mississippi Libraries and USM's Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage.
Funding provided by a National Leadership Grant for Libraries from the Institute for Museum and Library Services
The transcript is presented here for reference purposes only. Interviews in this collection are protected by copyright. PERMISSION TO PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED from the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. Please call ( 601) 266- 4574 for more information.
Biography
The Honorable Mildred Wells Norris was born in Jones County, Mississippi, in the little town of Ovett. However, " The one [ town] I was born in blew away. . . . It was a terrific storm." While Mildred Wells was an infant the family moved to Laurel where her father operated a barber shop; " He was a barber there in Laurel for, I guess, almost all of the forty some odd years."
Miss Norris attended schools in Laurel, and she recalls that " As children we were never prodded about our lessons. . . . We just took it for granted that we had the greatest honor and privilege in the world just to attend school." After graduation from high school, she studied for one year at Mississippi State College for Women, and then returned home because of health reasons. Her working life commenced when " One night daddy came home and says ' I have a job for you.'" The job was that of secretary in the office of two prominent lawyers; T. Webber Wilson, a former congressman, and Mr. F. Burkitt Collins.
During World War II, she worked for the United States Department of Agriculture and the War Department. With her experience as a legal secretary, she " read" law, as was a standard practice, and passed the Mississippi Bar Examination in February, 1947.
She married Walter Thomas Norris in 1940, and after the war, " We moved from Laurel to Hattiesburg, and from Hattiesburg to McComb, and then from McComb to Brookhaven, and finished the circle back to Hattiesburg, by choice." Her husband managed hotels in the various places and Judge Norris recalls that " If his opportunity lay elsewhere, I called a van and moved." The Norrises returned to Hattiesburg in 1955, and settled permanently.
In 1961, she was appointed Judge of the Municipal Court of Hattiesburg, and is the first woman Police Judge in Mississippi. With the change in City Administration, she left the bench, but later was reappointed to the bench by Mayor A. J. " Bud" Gerrard. Subsequently, her appointment was terminated by Mayor Gerrard, and she returned full time to her law practice.
Judge Norris has worked actively for the advancement of women; she was the first and only woman to serve on the Forrest County Industrial Development Board and also was appointed first chairman of the Mississippi Governor's Commission on Women. She was honored with national office when named first
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